


Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Part 1

by purplesocrates



Series: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea [1]
Category: Rejseholdet | Unit One
Genre: Angst, Case Fic, M/M, Mentions of Grooming, Murder, Slow Burn, death of a child, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-08-14 16:37:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16496261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplesocrates/pseuds/purplesocrates
Summary: From@swingtimeprompt.  She wanted a long case fic set after the series in a sleepy English seaside town.  La Cour is assigned to work with Allan but Allan does not know.  They have not spoken since Allan went to The Hague.A murder of a young schoolgirl is a lifeline for Allan to get out of The Hague.  He is sent to help the Scarborough Police with this horrendous case.  Unknown to him Ingrid has decided to send La Cour who he has not spoken to for two years to help him.  Can they manage to sort out their issues with each other so they can work together and solve this case?  Can Allan keep a handle on his feelings for La Cour?  Will La Cour just screw it all up again?  Most importantly will they solve this case and bring justice to the person who killed Kate Stevens?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swingtime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swingtime/gifts).



> Thank you to [@vix-spes](http://vix-spes.tumblr.com/) for the beta.

 

 

 

**Monday 4th December 2006**

**West Pier Coastal Walk, Scarborough, North England**

 

Allan sighs, sat on a bench, he looks out onto the stormy sea pulling his coat closer around him as the wind picks up.  The rain will start any moment; he can feel it hanging in the air, heavy in the clouds. He can almost taste it. It is getting dark too.   That ominous dark it gets before the thunder really starts. He should go before the storm breaks but he cannot seem to move from this spot.  Ever since spending all that time in prison and at the Hague, he finds being inside difficult. He feels caged; the only time he can seemingly catch his breath is when he is outside in an open space, alone.  His mind feels cleared of cobwebs with the wind rushing past his ears and the cold making his skin painfully tingle.

 

He never knew how much he loved water until he couldn’t see it.  As much as this town is struggling to survive, much of it left to decay.   Especially so in the winter months when it seems as if there is no one left here.  The ones that are sleepwalk through the cold days coats pulled tight around them, eyes to the ground and heads bent when they walk.  There is still the sea. The beautiful violence of the water. Watching the waves as they crash onto the rocks is cathartic to him now, release in violence.  He knows he shouldn’t feel that way. He has seen more violence than most people would ever want to see in a lifetime. Somehow he can never truly look away even if he wanted to.  He is haunted now, marked by the things he has seen, the things he has done. Lying to himself that it is about morality, when in reality he is addicted to the rush and nothing is better than chasing down leads, chasing down bad guys. The only problem is, he seems to lose a part of himself with each case, each dead soulless body he looks at takes a part of him that he can never get back.  

 

He is getting maudlin, he needs to stand up and walk back to the station.  Just another minute he thinks as a fat raindrop lands on his head, cold and wet.  His phone starts to ring again, he can feel it vibrating in his pocket, he looks at his watch and sighs again, he is now late.  He will be even later by the time he convinces his feet to move and go to work, to give another piece of his soul in the name of justice.  To avenge the soul of some poor innocent victim taken too soon by too violent means. This case is going to hurt him he knows, it has all the makings of heartbreak and devastation before it has even begun.  Cases with kids are never easy. He misses his own.

 

The thought of his son is enough to get him off the bench as the rain truly starts to fall.  He takes his phone out of his pocket and frowns at the number, deciding against answering as technically he should be in a briefing right now anyway.  Ingrid can wait.

 

***

  


**Monday 4th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

La Cour is tired. The bone aching kind, the cannot actually remember what sleep is kind of tired.  He rubs his face with his hand and sighs loudly. A sympathetic young female officer who reminds him of Gaby appears with a cup of strong black coffee for him.  He smiles and thanks her profusely ignoring the way she lingers before leaving a little crestfallen. La Cour hopes that Ingrid got a hold of Fischer and has warned him, because if so this could explain why Fischer is so late.  Apart from the fact that this is not that unusual for Fischer; the man would be late for his own funeral.

 

He looks out of the window at the storm brewing, rain now hitting the glass heavily and the light has gone dark and ominous.  La Cour tries not to think of it as an omen. The police station is located just outside of the main high street of the town. It looks out onto a main road which is busy with traffic and buses.  The signs on all the shops looks tired and old. It is mostly kebab houses and carpet shops up this way, an odd combination La Cour thinks. All the buildings looks grey in this light and the people look cold as they shuffle through their lives.

 

He sips his coffee which is too bitter and too sweet at the same time, but it should knock the cobwebs from his mind, which is all he needs it to do.  He checks his watch again and smiles as he remembers all the times Ingrid would shout at Fischer for his tardiness. To which he would respond with a sardonic smirk and ignore her completely.  He misses that version of Fischer. The last time he saw Allan he was broken and La Cour was partly responsible for that. They have barely spoken since and they have not seen each other. Ingrid sending Fischer over here and then deciding that La Cour should join him came out of left field and he is not sure that Fischer was even consulted.  The last time he spoke to Ingrid she was vague about whether she had managed to tell Fischer he was coming. La Cour cannot quite bring himself to call as he knows that Fischer not answering would hurt him more than he wants to admit.

 

He is nervous now as he thinks of all the ways Fischer could react to seeing him again.  He may walk out, he may punch him, he may not react at all. La Cour has no idea which one of these would be worse.  

 

***

 

By the time Allan makes it to the station, he is soaked and freezing.  Not his most professional look but then when has that ever concerned him.  Ingrid is not here to frown at him, so what does it matter. He takes a moment before opening the door and entering the station he shakes his head and slicks his hair back again with both hands, it’s grown more out of laziness than a choice. He stalks inside, removes his drenched coat and hangs it up by the door, before going straight to the kitchen to get himself some coffee.  The young woman officer who is always lingering about is there and she smiles at him, she reminds him of Gaby. “Your colleague is here.” She says brightly offering him one of those quintessentially English chocolate bourbons that he thinks taste like cardboard and he shakes his head no as he pours himself a black coffee.

 

It takes a few moments for those words to register, but when they do, he turns to ask her what she means and is met with dark eyes and a soft voice speaking his name.  Allan feels as if he is seeing a ghost. La Cour looks exactly the same; tall, lean and wearing a worn out blue suit with no tie. Smirking at him in that infuriating way he always had.  He laughs “I take it Ingrid didn’t manage to get a hold of you. You should answer your phone when it rings.” This is all said in Danish, the young woman in the room looks awkward and smiles as she tries to figure out what Fischer is going to do, he currently has an unreadable expression on his face that looks as if it could turn to fury any moment.  

 

“It’s rude to speak Danish in front of a non speaker.”  Allan eventually manages, his tone betraying as much as his expression which is not a lot.

 

“Apologies.”  La Cour responds in English and nods at the young officer who waves her hand dismissing the problem.

 

She smiles “no problem.”  She looks from one man to the other as the tension in the room is starting to get uncomfortable but she cannot leave as La Cour is blocking the door.  “Um, the meeting is supposed to start soon.” She says lamely, what she means is it was supposed to start almost an hour ago.

 

“Be right there.”  Allan says, but he does not remove his gaze from La Cour who is smiling at him now.  

 

The young female officer shuffles towards the door “I’ll make sure everything is set up.”  She says and La Cour mercifully moves so she can leave.

 

“Ingrid did try to warn you.  The decision was only made two days ago.”  La Cour’s voice is still irritatingly soft, though every word grates against Allan like rough sand.  “This is okay? Me being here?”

 

Fischer wishes he knew the answer to that question because right now he has no idea, he just wishes he had never left the bench and instead allowed himself to be swallowed up by the storm.  Instead, the storm had made its way inside and is looking at him, through him. It is as if La Cour is standing with an army of ghosts behind him, memories snake their way through his mind and pull at every muscle and sinew.  Every atom of him suddenly hurts.

 

He takes a deep breath.  “We should get started” he says rushing past La Cour, hitting his shoulder on the way out of the door to the briefing room.

 

La Cour sighs, closes his eyes and tilts his head up to the ceiling “nice to see you too” he mutters under his breath before turning and following Allan into the small briefing room.

  


***

**Monday 4th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

The briefing is hard, images no one wants to look at. All of it wrapped up in clinical language and cold photographs which leave Fischer empty.  He had attempted as much as he could to ignore La Cour and the burgeoning anger which is threatening to overwhelm him entirely. He can feel the rage coursing through him  now like a slow and insistent burn. Allan has decided how to react and it is with anger. The original lead Detective on the case has been put on leave and everyone is now reporting to Fischer and, he supposes, La Cour.

 

Once they are done and everyone has been assigned their duties the team are keen to leave the room as the tension between the two Danish officers is palpable to everyone.  They are left alone as La Cour gently closes the door, Allan is looking at the board of pictures he will not turn or acknowledge La Cour. This is the moment that Thomas realises the worst of all the ways Allan could react is like this, to not react.  

 

“We should talk.  We need to be able to work together after all.”  La Cour’s voice makes Allan want to scream. He still doesn’t turn around.  “Ingrid tried to call you.”

 

Allan’s voice is that monotone it gets when he is truly enraged. “You could have called me.”

 

Ah, La Cour thinks.  “Yes, but would you have answered?”  La Cour knows that is not the point. A call from La Cour even unanswered would have made it more likely he would have answered Ingrid’s call.  It would have been a warning in itself.

 

“I guess we’ll never know.”  They both know though, they both know he wouldn’t.  They both know that is not the point.

 

La Cour sighs and takes a step away from the door towards him “Fischer, at least look at me.”

 

Fischer laughs a hollow laugh and turns “you make it sound so dramatic.”

 

La Cour rolls his eyes at that. “It is hard to work with someone if they won’t look at you.”

 

“Perhaps.”  Allan really wants to smoke his fingers are twitching, but he is not allowed to smoke in the station.  “What are you doing here?”

 

“Ingrid sent me.”  This is true she did, but he did not have to come, he could have refused.  He didn’t, he wanted to come he wanted to see Fischer again, he wanted to see if he could repair some of the damage.  Stood in this small briefing room surrounded by pictures of a dead child with the rain beating down on the windows and Fischer’s face like stone, he knows he has no chance of doing that.

 

“I gathered that, but why did you come?”  Allan wants him to say it, he wants to hear his reasoning, he wants to hear what possible logic brought him to the conclusion that Fischer might be at all pleased to see him.

 

La Cour cannot find the right words.  There are so many running about his mind like a freight train none of them right, none of them carry enough weight, they will blow away in the wind of Allan’s indignation.  “It’s my job.”

 

Allan laughs at that “you thought I couldn’t handle this.”

 

“No.”  La Cour runs a hand through his hair and takes a step closer to Allan, who does not move away but is still coiled like a lion about to pounce. “That is not what I meant.  Ingrid asked so I came. I thought…” his voice trails off because Allan’s eyes have gone impossibly dark.

 

“You thought what, La Cour?”  The monotone is slipping now, rage is dripping through the cracks in a hoarse whisper.

 

“I thought...I thought we could talk.”  La Cour knows he has handled this all wrong. Yet, with Allan stood there rage swirling around him he cannot seem to find his footing, he is unmoored, untethered.

 

“About what?  Old times?” Allan takes a step closer to La Cour threatening to invade his personal space and he spits slightly when he harshly whispers “reminisce?  What about? Johnny? Gaby? My time in prison? The fact that I almost died? That I have not seen my son for longer than a few days in two years?”

 

La Cour feels that familiar hot breath of guilt on the back of his neck as he takes in everything Allan has said and even more what he has left unsaid.  Who he blames for all of those things, the source of his despair, the architect of his undoing - La Cour.

 

Allan takes a step back “thought not.”  He says and walks behind La Cour leaving the door open as he storms out.  

 

***

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> La Cour gets to work on the case as things between him and Fischer do not look good.

**21st November 2006**

**The Hague, Netherlands**

 

Allan is pacing as usual. He often feels like a caged animal these days. In some ways it’s worse than prison because at least there it was real; a constant fight, a war zone. Here, it looks like everything except what it is. A prison. 

 

His phone rings and he looks at the number and knows instantly, even without caller ID, who it is.  He waits a beat before he answers it. “Fischer.”

 

“Allan, it’s Ingrid.” The voice sounds far away, like a memory.  

 

“Ingrid.” He says, just to remind himself of the name, the shape of it in his mouth.

 

“Hi.” Her voice is more distinct now, he closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. Her face floats in front of the darkness. 

 

“Hi.” Never a man of many words and less so now. He feels the weight of history like a pull from a current, he is a drowning man and he is not sure if this is a lifeline or his death sentence. 

 

“I need you to go to England.” Ingrid always straight to the point. Always down to business. After everything, her mask held up better than most but she had been wearing it so much longer. 

 

“England?” He hears himself ask. He opens his eyes as the possibility of hope is tossed out in front of him. Whether he will take it, well, that’s the question. 

 

“Yes.  There is a case.  They are having trouble and need a specialist. They need someone who is an expert in this kind of thing. It’s in Scarborough, north England.  I am sending you the file.” Her voice is clipped and efficient but he knows she has fought for this, for him. “They need you.”

 

A lifeline it is.  He grabs on with both hands. “When do I leave?”

 

***

**23rd November 2006**

**The Hague, Netherlands**

 

It had taken very little time to pack his things.  Ingrid had messengered the file to him the next day and he was sat at his small desk going through it all with his bag packed waiting for the car to come and take him to the airport.  The case involved the death of a young girl barely fourteen years old. She had been found on a rocky path leading from the beach. The cause of death looked like strangulation and she had been sexually assaulted before she died.  It was brutal and hard to look at. Her body had lain on that path for a whole night before a dog walker found her. Much of the evidence had been destroyed by that time. She had not been reported missing until a few hours after her apparent time of death, the parents assumed she was at school and then with friends.  Her phone had been found on her with only a few unanswered messages from her parents.

 

So far, there were next to no leads.  Her name was Kate Stevens, the only child of a couple who both worked long hours, her mother as a cleaner and her father at a local contractors. She was what they used to call a latchkey kid; she would walk to school on her own and hang around with friends or on her own after school until her parents came home from work, or go home alone and watch tv.  Kate seemingly didn’t have that many friends; she was one of those kids that seemed to coast by unnoticed by most people. Teachers described her as quiet and an average student, she wasn’t bullied but she wasn’t popular either. She was the inbetween kid not quite fitting in anywhere. Kate had mousy hair, freckles on her cheeks and green eyes. She was found still in her school uniform, her bag with her books nearby in the bushes.  

 

She had been seen leaving the school at 3.00pm on Thursday heading home as usual.  Her mother had sent her a message at 4.00pm which she had read but seemingly not answered although this was not unusual.  She had not been seen since. Her parents came home at 7pm and found the house empty, they called her phone three times between 7pm and 9pm to no answer.  They called the police at 9pm, who did not start searching until the morning assuming she would turn up overnight. A dog walker found her at 8am on the Friday morning.  

 

This had all happened over a week ago and the police were at a loss as to what to do.  One of the head Detectives had heard of the work of the Rejseholdet unit and contacted Ingrid to see if maybe they could help.  After many conversations and a lot of string pulling by Ingrid and Ulf, an agreement had been made that they could send Allan over instead of him staying at the Hague.  A kind of working sentence, a reprieve but one he had to work for. He was willing to take it, anything to get out of this place and to be out using his mind again. 

 

Kate Stevens had slipped through the cracks in her life and Allan was determined to not let her death be the same.  

 

_ *** _

 

**Friday 1st December 2006**

**Federal Police Station, København, Denmark**

La Cour is finishing up some paperwork and thinking about what he is going to have for dinner when his phone rings.  His mobile rarely rings these days, most people call him through the landline, so he stares at it for a moment hoping it is not his ex wife.  He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees that it is Ingrid. Answering the phone with a smile as he has not heard from her for some time.

“Hi Ingrid long time no speak.” He says as he leans back in his chair.

“La Cour how are you?”  She sounds the same, tired and harrassed it makes him smile.

“Good thank you. Busy as always but you can understand that.”  He says with a laugh.

She also laughs “yes! Always busy!  Actually that is why I am calling. I need a favour.”  

La Cour should have known there would be more to this phone call than just a catch up. “Of course anything for you Ingrid.”

“You say that before you know what it is.”  She says this with her usual cautious tone and something in La Cour’s stomach twists.

“What is it Ingrid?”  He says feeling a wave of something akin to nostalgia tinged with nerves.

“Have you been in touch with Fischer lately?”  She says this as if it is not a question that shoots an arrow directly through La Cour’s heart.

Hearing that names causes all the blood to drain from La Cour’s face he puts his head back and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.  Allan’s face appears in front of his mind’s eye, bruised, broken and bleeding. La Cour winces and opens his eyes. “No, not for some time. Is he still at the Hague?”

A pause as he imagines that Ingrid is surprised they have not kept in touch.  It makes him feel even more guilty. “He was but I sent him on a case in England last week.”

“England?”  La Cour can imagine that Allan took that lifeline with both hands.  

“Yes, North England Scarborough to be exact.  It was a case involving a death of a young girl, local police were getting nowhere and the press was having them for breakfast.  They requested some help and I thought it would be a good way out for Fischer.” She says this in her usual matter of fact way and La Cour realises he has missed the sound of her voice.  “He has been there a week but I thought maybe he could do with some back up.”

La Cour knew what she was going to say but his heart still leaps up into his mouth when she does say it. “You thought of me.”

“Yes.”  Ingrid says carefully.  “You always worked well together and I figured he could use a friend.”

A friend, La Cour thinks, is that what they are?  “When do you want me to leave?”

“As soon as possible.  I will messenger the file over this evening.  Take a look?” Ingrid always assuming the answer will be yes to her before she even asks the question.

“Of course.  I’ll call you later.”  La Cour says and Ingrid hangs up.

“Fuck.”  La Cour says as he imagines all the ways this could go horribly wrong.

**Monday 4th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

La Cour had watched Allan leave, hugging his coat around him against the stormy weather his figure retreating into the distance.  He should have known this would not go down well, he should have known Allan was always one to hold onto anger with all his might.  He was always hot headed and passionate; it was one of the things La Cour had always liked about him, how he wore his heart on his sleeve, he had always been so easy to read.  He had missed their easy connection, the way they would always find a reason to touch each other. 

 

Now they were oceans apart and La Cour knew it was all his fault.  He had never actually apologised for his part in everything that had happened.  Yes, it was Fischer’s choice to go undercover, and yes, they had both decided on bringing Johnny in and it was Fischer’s decisions in the moment that had led to him getting beaten up.  However, it was La Cour that had put him in harm's way. It was La Cour that had exploited their relationship in such a way that Allan went above and beyond for him. La Cour knew he had given up seeing his son because he wanted to help La Cour.  He had used Allan and it had blown up in Allan’s face.

 

He was staring at the board with all the pictures and evidence arranged just like Ingrid used to do when the young PC from earlier appeared in the room.  “Is there anything you need?” 

 

La Cour turned and smiled at her “no, I am alright.  Sorry, I am not sure we were properly introduced, I am Thomas.”  He moves towards her holding out his hand for her to shake.

 

She looks at his hand, deciding and then smiles again, she takes it and shakes it. “I am PC Dormer, Hayley Dormer.”

 

“It is nice to meet you, PC Dormer.  Thank you for the coffee earlier. I am sorry that you have had to deal with Fischer and I earlier, we have not seen each other for a while and things are a little tense.  I am sure we will figure it out.” Thomas is aware of how unprofessional their behaviour is and has probably already started the rumour mill.

 

She looks down bites her lip and he can see she is trying to figure out what to say. “Yeah… things seemed tense between you.  I wasn’t sure if it was my place to ask. It’s just if you don’t mind me saying this case with Kate, I know her family, my little sister goes to the same school.  I want whoever did this caught, we all do, that’s why you were asked to come.”

 

Thomas feels like a complete asshole, the death of this young girl should be more important than personal politics.  “I know and I can assure whatever is going on between Detective Fischer and I will not affect it. I am just going to familiarise myself with the case and I will go and talk to Fischer.”  

 

PC Dormer looks relieved “oh good thank you.  I just hope we can find whoever did this.”

 

Thomas looks at her with his most sympathetic look “we will, I am sure we will.”

 

***

 

So, La Cour had once more read through the case file and everything Fischer had compiled in the weeks he had been here so far.  There were extensive interviews with the parents, friends, teachers and the dog walker who had found the body. There was the beginnings of a detailed timeline and a profile of Kate Stevens.  The work was exemplary and La Cour felt pride at seeing how good Allan was. 

 

Having spent the entire morning going through everything, and finding that Allan had still not returned, La Cour decided to go and find him.   They needed to get through this if they were going to find the person responsible for this crime, the victim was the most important thing here.  Resolved to speak to him again, and this time with more of an idea of what he was going to say, La Cour decided that first he should go and take a look at the crime scene.  

 

***

 

**Monday 4th December, 2006**

**North Bay, Coastal Path, Scarborough**

 

He leaves the station and gets in his rental car and drives the half hour to the car park at the start of the coastal path.  He sees there are a couple of other cars parked there as he gets out. The rain has died down, but the wind is still strong. La Cour makes his way carefully up the path and as the steep hill begins to flatten out he can see a few strands of police tape still clinging on in the wind.  There is bench on the flat of grass, a man is sat on it staring out to sea. La Cour stops and takes a moment before approaching. He sits down next to the man.

 

“Are you the other Detective?”  The man asks still not turning to look at La Cour.

 

“Yes.”  La Cour answers, and he knows he is talking to Kate Stevens father.  He recognised him from his picture at the station, but also by the cloud of grief he is carrying around with him. 

 

“Do you have children?”  he asks gently.

 

“Yes, one.”  La Cour answers and he knows he could not imagine what this man is going through.  “You are Mr Stevens.” 

 

“Call me Frank.”  He responds finally turning to look at La Cour who sees now he has his daughter’s eyes, he holds out a hand for La Cour to shake.

 

La Cour takes his hand “Thomas La Cour.”

 

“Do you know the other one? Fischer?  Have you worked with him before?” Frank asks removing his hand and putting it back in his coat pocket.  

 

La Cour almost does not know how to even start to answer that question.  “Yes, we know each other; we worked together for years in Denmark.”

 

Frank nods his head “the old DI said that you were all part of a team that specialised in this sort of thing.”

 

“Yes, we worked the murder cases that were too complicated for local police.  We have a lot of experience with difficult cases.” La Cour does not mention that Allan is not exactly speaking to him at the moment and that he is not sure he will even be able to stay. 

 

“Do you have leads?”  Frank asks his eyes drift to the sea again.

 

“Not yet, but we will.  Detective Fischer has made a very good start, I was reviewing it all this morning and then I wanted to see where she was found for myself.”  La Cour speaks softly and waits patiently for Frank to respond.

 

“I have never been up here before.  Lived in Scarborough all my life and for some reason I have never sat on this bench before.  Since it happened I have been up here everyday, as if somehow the answer will be revealed to me if I sit here long enough.”  Frank’s voice is hollowed out and empty, he is a broken man.

 

“When we catch whoever did this, you may still never get an answer.  It is an unfathomable thing.” La Cour has witnessed grief, he has seen the determination to find whoever did the crime replaced with complete loss when they do, what happens next?  How does a person carry on in life when there is a huge part of themselves missing?

 

Frank turns to look at La Cour “I still need to know.  Promise me you will not leave until you find whoever did this.”

 

“I can promise you that.”  La Cour nods and hopes he is not lying. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos give me life!
> 
> More next week xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allan tries to deal with his feeling so he and La Cour can work together. Will La Cour actually apologise for his past actions? Will it be enough?

**Monday 4th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan had eventually returned towards the end of the day with the coroner's report.  He had arrived to find that La Cour was apparently out. Allan assumed he had gone to where Kate’s body had been found and, when he briefly questioned Dormer, she confirmed it.  He was looking through the report when Dormer came in with a coffee and a plate of biscuits. “Thought you might like these better.” She says and places the plate with a few yellow looking biscuits on it next to the coffee on his desk. “Custard creams; you didn’t seem bothered about the bourbons.”

 

“Thanks Dormer.”  He says with a smile but she is still not leaving, he sighs as he realises she is going nowhere until he eats one,  so he picks up one of the biscuits and takes a bite. It is surprisingly good, so he nods his approval. 

 

Dormer’s smile is wider than he has ever seen it. “Good, thought you could do with some cheering up.  My mum always brings me tea and custard creams when I am having a bad day and, well you don’t drink tea, but the custard creams are the best part anyway.”  She is still hovering and he raises an eyebrow at her. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

 

Allan is confused now, “for what?”

 

“If I had known, I would have warned you about your colleague, I assumed you were expecting him.”  She feels bad that it was all sprung on him like this and even though she had no way of knowing she doesn’t want him feeling badly towards her.  “Did they warn you he was coming?” She is not sure who ‘they’ are exactly, but Fischer has to have a boss and she assumes that is who made this decision.  Dormer wonders if they knew about whatever has happened between La Cour and Fischer, seems cruel if they did.

 

Allan sighs and stands up.   He walks around the desk to where Dormer is standing, he perches on the edge hands resting on the wood.  “You have nothing to apologise for. I should be the one apologising. Our behaviour was completely unprofessional.”  She feels that wave of sadness she always does when she looks at him and frowns. “They did try to warn me. My boss Ingrid, she did call and I didn’t answer.  It was a shock. We have not seen each other for some time.”

 

“I spoke to La Cour earlier.”  She says and looks away as she takes a deep breath before looking at Allan again. “I know for you the priority is Kate, I can see that. I just wanted to make sure it was for him too.”

 

Allan nods “of course.  I promise you, Dormer, we will find whoever did this.”

 

She smiles then and Allan cannot help but mirror it.  “Thank you for the coffee and the biscuits.”

 

“Anytime.”  She says with a smile, before leaving the room and closing the door gently behind her.  

 

Fischer closes his eyes and leans his head back letting out a big breath.  He needs to sort this out with La Cour. Dormer is right; the only person that matters now is Kate Stevens.  He just needs to compartmentalize his feelings about La Cour; he has done it before and he can do it again. Just as he opens his eyes and lowers his head, the door opens and La Cour appears.  He looks rosy cheeked and young and it makes Allan’s heart ache to see it. He shuts the door after him and Allan does not move from the edge of the desk. “Dormer said you went to the coastal path.”  He says voice as business like as he can make it.

 

La Cour nods “yes, I saw Frank; he was sitting on the bench.”

 

Allan frowns as a feeling of guilt at not having solved this yet makes his stomach churn. “What did you think?”  Allan is glad they are on safe ground now; work is familiar, this they can both do.

 

La Cour closes his eyes briefly, and conjures up the memory of being sat on the bench with Frank looking out over the sea.  “It was desolate. She was discarded, it is a remote spot but not completely inaccessible and she was left on the path. Did they want her to be found?  Did they care? It is a strange place to leave a body, it seemed ill conceived or careless. I am not sure which.”

 

Allan nods walks around to sit once more  at the desk as he watches La Cour make his way to the board. “I agree.  I think the why she was left there could be a good place to start. Unfortunately there are no cameras in the car park so we cannot see who was parked there.  I have asked for the footage of nearby cameras in the hope something may come of it.”

 

“Hmm.”  La Cour is doing that faraway thing he does and Allan sighs, tries not to be irritated by it.  “I was just going through the coroner's report.”

 

La Cour does not react immediately, so engrossed in some thought of his own as he stares at the pictures.  Allan decides to ignore him and carry on reading through the report. “What does it say?” La Cour finally manages, but he is not looking at Allan.

 

“There are some fibres they have sent off for analysis.  Cause of death is strangulation; she had sex recently before she died but the weather destroyed any DNA that may have been left and it seems as if the guy used a condom.”  Allan frowns again, as there is nothing new here. He looks at his watch and decides that he needs to get out of here, fresh eyes tomorrow. “It’s late, I am heading out.”

 

Allan gets up and gathers his things.  La Cour does not notice, so engrossed in his thoughts.  It makes Fischer feel vaguely furious but also strangely nostalgic.  This would usually be the point where he shook La Cour out of it and took him to the pub.  He thinks about it for a moment and then decides he is not yet ready for that. Instead, he slips out leaving La Cour staring at the board before he eventually turns and realises Fischer has gone.

  
  
  


**Monday 4th December 2006, Evening**

**The Nelson Inn, Victoria Rd, Scarborough**

 

It does not take La Cour long to figure out which pub Fischer prefers.  Fischer had left without telling La Cour which had irked him somewhat. Determined to get over it, he left after deciding that once he had settled into his hotel he would find Fischer and they would talk.  Dormer was right; the important thing here was Kate Stevens and her grieving family. Leaving the hotel, the same one he assumed Fischer was in, he walked a few blocks and found a pub that looked like the sort Fischer would frequent.  Small, off the road with a decent heated smoking area at the back.

 

La Cour orders two pints and goes to the smoking area outside that is under cover and has heat lamps.  He finds Fischer with a few empty glasses in front of him and a full ashtray. There is no one else out here.  La Cour sits down and places the beer in front of Fischer who looks at it for a moment before taking a sip of it and lighting another cigarette.  

 

“Can we talk?”  La Cour asks hoping that,  with a few beers in him, Allan may be a little more amenable, especially now that the shock has hopefully worn off.

 

“You can talk.”  He says, but there is a hint of a smile there.

 

“We have to be able to work together, after all Kate Stevens in the important party here.”  La Cour can see Allan taking in his words, mulling them over, deciding how to respond. La Cour does not miss the flash of anger in his eyes.

 

“I know that.”  Allan’s voice is flat and emotionless.

 

La Cour takes a deep breath “I’m sorry, I know I never said it and I know it means nothing, but I am sorry for everything.”

 

Allan looks at La Cour as if he is seeing him for the first time.  This apology is so unexpected, the man never admits he is in the wrong.  Ever. So sure of his own convictions. Allan has wanted to hear those words for so many years, but now he has they ring hollow to him and he realises that it’s pointless.  None of it matters any more. Johnny is paralysed, Allan’s life is ruined, a few words cannot change that. 

 

“It doesn’t matter.”  Allan says and looks away as he takes a deep toke of his cigarette.  “None of it matters anymore. We all made mistakes.”

 

La Cour is somewhat stunned to hear Allan say that after how angry he was at the station. Now he seems resigned, and that is somehow worse.  “It does matter. Everything you have been through it matters.”

 

Allan laughs hollow and bitter “why does it matter now?  Because Ingrid told you to come, because you actually have to speak to me.  Why did you say yes? Could your conscious not escape me? You have been a coward, La Cour, afraid.”

 

La Cour takes a large sip of his beer, the word coward hurts as it rings true. “I wanted to come, I wanted to see you.”

 

Allan raises an eyebrow at that “you didn’t before.   It’s not like you didn’t know where I was.” 

 

“It was not that simple.”  La Cour is aware he is once again skirting the issue and sighs, “I will admit I was scared to see you.  I was scared to call, I was scared you would answer or that you wouldn’t. I am a coward, and for that too I am sorry.”

 

Allan smiles at that “perhaps we both are.  As you say, all that matters now is Kate Stevens.  We can work together, work the case, the rest” he waves his hand “we shall see.”

 

La Cour nods and smiles as honestly that is all he can hope for and he is happy that Allan can meet him halfway.  They do not need to discuss anything else at this point; there is plenty to focus on. As much as La Cour wants to ask Allan about his son, what the Hague was like, whether he has heard from Gaby he won’t and he is not sure he could find the words.  He senses a similar feeling from Allan. Instead, he takes another sip of his beer and watches Allan bring the cigarette to his mouth out of the corner of his eye. “So do you have any thoughts about the case?”

 

“A few.”  Allan sips his beer and nods, tapping the ash from his cigarette on to the ashtray. 

 

“You ruled out the father?”  La Cour did not get that vibe from him, but he has learnt that people can hide, even from themselves.

 

“For the moment.”  Fischer confirms. “As you know, it is usually someone they know in these cases.”

 

“What about the mother?”  La Cour had read her interview; it was short as she was inconsolable and had to be sedated.  She was now on anti depressants and barely leaves her bed. 

 

“For the moment ruled out too.  They both have alibis for the afternoon and evening.”  Fischer has checked phone records, someone had made a call from the house landline to Kate’s phone three times that night.  It is true that one of them could have left and come back, but Fischer is convinced by their grief and their stories match when separated.  Their work colleagues also confirm they were both at work in the afternoon.

 

“Her friends, teachers?  Anyone suspicious?” La Cour drinks his beer, he is starting to feel hungry and he wonders if this pub does food.

 

“It is hard trying to find anything out about her; for a teenage girl she did not seem to have many friends. The ones she had she was not that close too, she spent a lot of time on her own.  Not much social media use either, she has a facebook but it wasn’t used a lot. I think maybe there is something we have not found yet. I was going to suggest you go to her house, look at her room, maybe you could find something we missed?”  Allan was sure there was more to this girl than met the eye, no teenage girl had this few secrets. “Plus, you have established a rapport with the father now.”

 

La Cour nods and thinks that’s a good idea, he looks at their beer glasses and realises they are empty “another?” 

 

Allan waves a hand “my round.”  then as if reading La Cour’s mind like in the old days he says  “I will get some menus too; you are hungry.”

 

La Cour smiles and nods, he thinks that maybe somethings never change.  

  
  


**Monday 4th December 2006, late evening**

**Travelodge, St Nicholas Cliff, Scarborough**

 

They are indeed staying at the same hotel and they stumble back together in an easy silence. The streets are relatively empty so late on a weekday.  The town is sleeping and quiet except for the odd dog barking. The shops look even more tired in the dark, with old metal shutters pulled down over the windows.  It feels as if this town has been left behind, Allan can sympathise. 

 

La Cour starts to feel as if perhaps this will work out after all that they will be able to put the past behind them.  He had missed Allan more than he wanted to admit to himself. Walking together on a cold night, on wet and empty streets he starts to feel his past as a comfort rather than a torture.

 

Once at the hotel they take the lift and Allan gets off first, leaving La Cour leaning against the back of the car.  Allan turns to look at him just before the doors close he puts hand out to stop them. “I should not have called you a coward.”  he says his voice suddenly serious.

 

La Cour smiles “I was though.”

 

“Maybe, but I do not think of you as a coward.”  With that he lets the doors close leaving La Cour feeling off balance as he makes his way back to his room.  Those words echo around his head, what does he think of him as?

  
  
  


***

 

Allan lies on his bed in the dark, the only light is from the orange streetlight outside and the occasional car as it goes by.  He stares up at the peeling plaster and sighs. Of all the people he expected to see, La Cour was not one of them. So many times he wanted to see him, so many times he waited and hoped to see him.  He had managed to banish him eventually from his mind, or at least he thought he had, it had taken some time but he had done it.

 

Now it is all coming flooding back.  He has spent years of his life with this man. Avoiding going home. Avoiding all the reasons why. He had given up everything to help him in a heartbeat. The last time he saw him Allan was bloodied and beaten. They had sat together in silence while blood pooled in Fischer’s wounds. La Cour responsible but still a comfort.

 

Allan knows he is going to have to work with him to solve this case. Kate Stevens being the only thing that matters. He will have to swallow his pride in the morning. Right now he allows himself an indulgence of a smile as he thinks of the evening they just shared. How easy it was to slip back into camaraderie as if they had never been apart. 

 

In the darkness he can close his eyes and conjure those eyes, hands and crooked smile. He can allow La Cour a one night pass in his mind. Just tonight. Tomorrow he will put it all back in the box he keeps La Cour in deep in the recesses of his mind. However now in the darkness he can whisper his name as a breathless moan, a wanton needy cry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos keep me warm at night! xxx


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> La Cour makes a breakthrough on the case. Maybe they can work together after all....

**Tuesday 5th December.**

**Kate Steven’s home, Broom Walk, Scarborough**

 

Kate Steven’s lived on a small road of brick red terraced houses.  They all look exactly the same apart from the front gardens. Some people have plants or grass others just paved, some are well kept and others neglected.  Kate’s is paved over but clean, simple and practical. On the way here La Cour noticed people in the street had started to put up Christmas decorations and lights.  There are none here though, the house looks cold and empty. 

 

Frank had let him in and offered him tea which he politely declined as Frank proceeded to make himself one anyway as if on autopilot.  La Cour walks up the narrow staircase of the home, there are framed pictures of their daughter all the way up the stairs, first day at school, holidays and birthdays.  They make up a small summary of her life, her parents happy and smiling. It was a small life, a life cut short but she existed in this house. La Cour looks at every single one as he slowly climbs each step aware that her father is downstairs cradling the luke warm cup of tea he wasn’t drinking in his hands.  La Cour feels the loss like an ache in this now hollow house it makes him miss his own child. It makes him thinks about Allan.

 

Once he reaches the top of the stairs he can see there are three doors all closed.  One is Frank and Rose’ bedroom where Rose now sleeps in a drug addled coma most of the day and night.  Consciousness for her is just too painful. The room next to that one is Kate’s. It has her name in bright colours on the door with butterflies he traces them with his fingertips and smiles.  The other door at the end of the hall is the bathroom. La Cour gently turns the knob of the door to Kate’s room and opens it. He lets the door gently swing open so he can take it all in. Light spills in through the curtains opened as if she is coming home. The room is small, a single bed, a desk, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers with a mirror.  Simple furniture painted white with various stickers on them a lot of butterflies. 

 

The walls are painted a soft pink, faded now, obviously a colour chosen when Kate was much younger.  There are posters littering the walls, as you would expect from any teenage girl, boy bands and actors that La Cour does not know.  Some film and art posters though as well. Her bed has what seems like a hundred different mismatched cushions and a lot of stuffed animals.  Next to the bed is a small bedside table with a few drawers and a lamp with a stack of books and magazines on it. The carpet is beige but there is a very soft looking white faux fur rug on the floor at the foot of the bed.  It is all quite neat for a teenage girl and he is surprised not to see clothes strewn across the floor, perhaps her parents did tidy the room.

 

He steps in, turns on the light and closes the door.  On the back of the door Kate’s bright pink fluffy dressing gown still hangs. He takes the gloves he brought with him from his pocket and puts them on.  He takes a step further in and starts with looking at the desk. There is a space where her laptop would usually be, this has been at the police station for the last week being sorted through, a small ipod dock and speaker, a pot of pens and a pad of yellow lined paper.  La Cour opens the pad of paper and flips through the pages it is mostly doodles, some poems and scribblings. He opens the drawers of the desk, mostly more pads of paper half filled with doodles, some school work, drawings and poems. Hairbands, nail polish in bright colours, lip balms that smell like candy.  All the usual trappings a teenage girl surrounds herself with.

 

Moving on to the bedside table he looks at the books and magazines.  Again nothing unusual, teenage fashion magazines, young adult fiction books a few about vampires, more hairbands.  La Cour opens the wardrobe next, all of her clothes are hung up neatly and he is now sure this room has been tidied.  Rows of shoes at the bottom ranging from trainers to sparkly flats. He goes to the chest of drawers and opens them, just clothes.  He stands in the middle of the room and closes his eyes for a moment and tries to think about Kate and the kind of girl she was. He can imagine her coming here after school listening to music, chatting to her friends on her phone, led on her bed surrounded by cushions and soft toys.  Doing her homework at her desk, going downstairs for dinner, coming back up and going to bed. 

 

He opens his eyes and looks around the room again for anything that looks out of place, a hiding place.  He looks at all the posters on the wall and notices that one has a crease in one corner as if it has been lifted up and down off the wall a lot.  He runs his fingers along the corner and can feel something behind it other than the wall. He gently lifts the corner up and finds a small vent she covered.  He presses his fingertip underneath the plastic and it lifts off easily to reveal a small hole in the wall. There in the space are several what look like diaries and some letters.  La Cour removes them all then spreads them out on the bed. All of the diaries are locked but the metal is thin and can easily be forced. The letters are opened but still in their original envelopes handwritten to her but addressed to a PO box.  

 

La Cour decides not to read through them here but take them back with him.  He removes a roll of evidence bags from his coat pocket and places everything inside sealing them as he does.  Once he is finished he makes his way out of the bedroom, switching the light off and closing the door. As he walks past Frank and Rose’ bedroom he notices the door is now slightly ajar and the weak light from a lamp is spilling out through the gap.  He stops and looks through where he can see Rose Stevens staring at him with wide but dead looking eyes. He places his hand on the door and opens it more taking half a step he pokes his head through. “Mrs Stevens. I’m Detective La Cour I am looking into your daughters case.”

 

She blinks slowly but does not respond.  He smiles weakly but just as he decides he should probably go he hears a small whisper.  He turns and looks at her “I’m sorry I didn’t catch that.” Her hand appears from under the blankets beckoning him so he steps fully inside he takes her hand in his, it’s warm and clammy, he kneels down beside her and places his ear close to her lips so she can whisper in his ear. “Thank you.”  she says and squeezes his hand.

 

He nods “did you know Kate kept a diary?”  he asks still holding her hand, he turns to see her face, her skin is pale but he can see she has the same freckles as her daughter.  

 

“She had many secrets.”  Rose’s voice is still a whisper but her grip on La Cour’s hand gets stronger as she finds her words.  “I never knew what she was thinking. As she got older I lost her somewhere along the line. She stopped talking.”

 

La Cour smiles “teenagers can be hard.”

 

Rose shakes her head “it felt like more than that.  Sometimes I would look at her and it was as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.  I was busy though we both were, she was always alone, I worried about her.” He doesn’t know what to say because he can see Rose is literally immobilized by her grief and guilt.  “I just hope she knew she was loved.”

 

La Cour thinks of all the framed pictures he passed in the hall and squeezes her hand “she knew.”

 

***

 

**Tuesday 5th December**

**Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan is at the station drinking strong coffee and reading through the coroner's report once more. He is frowning as a lot of things do not add up.   He is going to have go down there and talk to them, which he will, but after La Cour has come back from the Steven’s house. Allan is sure that he will have found something they missed he has a knack for it.  

 

As if conjured Allan looks up and La Cour is standing in the doorway looking at him.  “Did you get any sleep? You look exhausted.” La Cour says as he enters the room and sits down next to Allan placing several evidence bags on the table.  Allan can feel the fluorescent lights flickering and buzzing he rubs the bridge of his nose.

 

“Not much.  What did you find?”  Allan responds and looks at the evidence bags filled with what looks like diaries and letters.

 

“You need to drink less coffee.”  La Cour says pointedly looking at the mostly drunk coffee cup.  “Diaries and letters hidden behind a poster. The letters were sent to a PO Box.  I have not opened anything, thought we could do it together make sure it all gets catalogued.”

 

Allan smiles “this is brilliant, hopefully this will tell us something about her life.”  

 

La Cour smiles back and nods his head “glad you are happy.  I am going to get some tea and then we can make a start. Do you want anything?”

 

“No, no I’m good thanks.”  Allan responds as he starts to move all the bags of diaries so they are spread out on the table.  He gets up and grabs a camera so they can start to record everything, as well as a box of gloves he puts on a pair.

 

La Cour returns with some tea “I spoke to the Mother.”

 

Allan looks at him and raises an eyebrow “she was awake?”

 

“Barely” he says sipping the tea then placing it down so he can also put on some gloves  “she said she thought that Kate had secrets that she was alone a lot. Neither her nor Frank knew she kept a diary.  I didn’t mention the letters thought it best to know what we were dealing with first.”

 

“Good thinking.  Shall we start with those?”  Allan picks up one of the bags and opens it dumping the stack of letters on the table.  He notes the post marks and orders them. Finding the earliest one he removes the letter from the envelope and starts to read them.  

 

Allan reads the letters and immediately knows what they are.  He feels sick to his stomach. “Start on the diaries see if she names this guy.  He is grooming her, we need to know how far this goes.”

 

La Cour nods and begins to open the other bags and then breaks the diaries open using a small set of pliers.  They both sit in silence as they read through everything. It appears as if Kate was in constant contact with a man only referred to as H.  He writes her love letters and she appears to be completely taken in by him. As their relationship progresses it is clear that she has met him several times, regularly.  She does not give his full name though and is very careful about describing him. There is not much to go on. He is clearly older, male and someone who is in her life in a regular basis, known to her parents as she often says they would kill her if they knew.  

 

“A teacher maybe?”  La Cour says as he leans back on his chair stretching.  “Anyone you interviewed stand out?”

 

Allan yawns “not at the time, I will get Dormer to get a list of everyone whose name begins with H incase its that simple.”  He stands up and goes outside to give Dormer her task. La Cour watches him as he leaves, he seems tired not just from lack of sleep. He wants to ask him if he is alright but he knows there would be no point.  Allan has made it clear they are to focus on the case and nothing else. La Cour checks his watch and sees it is almost 2.00pm. His stomach growls and he realises he is starving. 

 

He gets up and follows Allan out to the main room where the rest of the team have their desks.  La Cour smiles seeing Allan talking to Dormer, who looks excited to have been given this task, nodding and explaining to Allan how she will get right on it and be back to him within the hour.  It feels good to show her they are working on things together.

 

Allan sees him loitering and makes his way over “Dormer is on it she should have a list for us soon.  In the meantime I need to speak to the Coroner the report does not entirely make sense.”

 

“Let me come with you,  you can tell over lunch what the problem is.  I’m buying.” La Cour suggests.

 

“Always led by your stomach.”  Allan laughs.

 

La Cour frowns and then shrugs “you need to eat, you do not take good care of yourself.”  

 

***

  
  


**Tuesday 5th December 2006**

**Baxter’s Sandwich shop, Westborough, Scarborough**

 

So Allan takes La Cour to his favourite sandwich shop which sells what basically amounts to a roast dinner in a roll. They are huge, containing meat, vegetables and a gallon of gravy in what is almost an entire loaf of bread.   They are delicious but incredibly hard to eat. Sat at a small table outside, despite the cold, because Fischer needs to smoke as well as eat, they talk about the case. 

 

“So what is irking you about the coroner's report?”  La Cour asks as he tries not to drip gravy onto his shirt.  His hands are barely able to contain the quickly soaking bread.

 

Allan who is a bit more adept at eating these impossible sandwiches  smiles smugly. “Well actually now that you have found those letters it is perhaps less strange.  It looks as if they assumed she was raped because of her age and the fact that she had gone missing.  However there are no signs of bruising or tearing so it is possible the sex was consensual.”

 

La Cour grimaces “it would appear as if things had gotten that far.”  Kate had again been very careful in her diaries and he had been very careful in his letters.  Nothing explicit but certainly it would not surprise them to find that he had managed to manipulate her.

 

“We need to find this H.”  Allan says as he finishes his last bite just before his phone rings and he quickly wipes his hands on the tiny serviette they give you and answers.  “Dormer, what do you have for me?” Allan balances the phone between his cheek and his shoulder as he tries to fish out his notepad. La Cour takes pity on him puts his sandwich down and retrieves his own notepad and pen.   Allan nods a thank you and repeats the names so La Cour can write them down. “Thanks Dormer.” 

 

La Cour looks at the list “anyone stand out?”

 

“Maybe.  This Mr Heath could be interesting he is a teacher at Kate’s school.  He was her form teacher.” Allan checks his watch. “I can call the coroner tell her we will be there later, let's go by the school.  It’s almost three they should be letting out now we might be able to catch him.

 

They head to the car and Allan’s phone rings he checks the number. Ingrid.  He throws the keys at La Cour who catches them and smiles pleased with himself. “Need to take this. I’ll be two minutes.” Allan says and walks around the corner to answer the phone. 

 

“Ingrid.” He says tone as neutral as he can get it. 

 

“Fischer. Is he there?” She says business as usual. 

 

Allan rake’s a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Yes.”

 

He can practically hear the eye rolling. “And? How is it going?”

 

“A warning would have been nice.” He says with a huff. 

 

“I did try to call.” Ingrid defends herself. “Several times. You needed someone to help he was available. Thought it might be good to see a familiar face.”

 

Allan barks a laugh “literally anyone else Ingrid.”

 

There is a pause and Allan tries to fight back a swell of emotion. “I didn’t think things between you were that bad. Are you okay working with him?”

 

Allan huffs again “it is it what is. Look I have to go we are going to question a potential suspect.”

 

“Together?” Ingrid says voice slightly high.

 

Allan sighs “yes together.”

 

“Good that’s good.” She says with a forced brightness. 

 

Allan runs a hand through his hair again and rolls his eyes. “Yeah just like old times. Look I’ll call you later with an update.” He hangs up the phone. It takes a few moments before he can gather himself into a person again and make his way to the car.   La Cour is sat in the driver's seat a smug smile on his face. Allan hates himself but he has to stifle a laugh. He opens the drivers side door “out La Cour you know I always drive.”

 

“You gave me the keys.” La Cour protests.

 

“It’s cold and I didn’t want you complaining you were freezing now you are not distracted by food.” Allan hits his shoulder gently and La Cour finally gets out of the car. 

 

“How considerate!” La Cour jokes and moves to the passenger side as Allan mutters ‘someone has to be’ under his breath. He sighs again and gets in. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are gifts that keep giving xxx


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allan and La Cour question a suspect, could they be getting closer to who killed Kate Stevens?

**Tuesday 5th December 2006**

**Ashburn Secondary School, Ashburn rd, Scarborough**

 

Ashburn is a small secondary school that is over subscribed by the local residents.  There are very few secondary state schools in the area. This one, much like the others, is underfunded and understaffed.  It is a large grey concrete building that would have been cutting edge at the time of its construction in the sixties, but now is falling apart and in dire need of an upgrade.  Fischer and La Cour arrive at the school just as the kids are all coming out of the gates. The noise is almost deafening, Allan forgot how much noise, especially en masse, kids can make.  They flash their ID’s to get into the school and make their way to the office to find out where Mr Heath might be. They are directed to the staff room and then to his Form room where they find him sat at his desk sorting papers.  

 

He is young, good looking with kind eyes, a head of thick dark hair, he is tall and skinny.  All of which makes Allan instantly suspicious.

 

“Mr Heath.”  La Cour holds out his badge and Mr Heath takes off his glasses, stands up and looks at it.  

 

Mr Heath is dressed in jeans and a shirt with no tie, which La Cour thinks is awfully casual for a teacher but maybe times have changed. “Oh hi, please call me Simon.”  He says and holds his hand for La Cour to shake, which he does, he offers it to Fischer who does not take it.

 

“This is Detective Fischer.”  La Cour says in apology.

 

Mr Heath brings his hand back awkwardly to his side and looks at Allan. “Hi, yeah I remember you.”  Once you have been questioned by Fischer it is hard to forget.

 

“Yes.”  Fischer says, his voice that even tone he uses to put people on edge. “We have some more questions.”

 

Mr Heath smiles, open and honest, adding to Allan’s suspicion.  This guy is too smooth, too nice. “Of course, anything I can do.”  He seems relaxed and he is acting as if he has nothing to hide which makes Allan think he does.

 

“You were Kate’s form room and English teacher.”  Allan clarifies and Mr Heath nods. “You saw her the day she went missing.”

 

“Yes I checked her in at the morning at roll call, I saw her at lunch time, I may have seen her after but I do not specifically remember it.”  He runs a hand through his hair. “There are so many students.”

 

La Cour starts walking around the classroom inspecting posters Heath watches him until his attention is brought back to Fischer who asks “would you say you knew her well?”  

 

“As well as any of my students.”  Fischer is looking at Mr Heath with scrutiny now but he does not seem to be sweating under the gaze.   “She was never in trouble so I did not see her in detention.” He is looking at La Cour who has stopped by a handwritten chart on the wall.   “She was quiet always flying under the radar. Never too loud, she had a few friends. I am afraid it is usually the loud students who get into trouble that get the most attention.  Kids like Kate can fall through the cracks. I know this has been a wake up call for all of us.”

 

“Did she have any boyfriends?”  Allan asks this and makes sure to see if there is any reaction from Mr Heath.

 

He looks up at the ceiling as if he is thinking and then meets Allan’s eyes full on not blinking. “No, not that I know of but it’s hard to keep track of who is with who around here.”

 

Allan thinks that is an interesting thing to say, perhaps he is just a bit of a gossip. “What do you mean?”

 

He waves his hand in dismissal of his own statement. “Just the usual teenage drama, lots of relationships changing on a weekly basis.  Kate never seemed to be a part of all that but I do not know for sure.”

 

He sure is playing it cool.  Allan is not convinced though there is something altogether too smooth and too confident about his manner when being questioned about a student. “Did she ever come to you with problems?”

 

“Not really that I recall.”  He is thinking about these questions, Allan wonders if he is thinking about how to answer rather than the truth.   “I can check her file but she always seemed pretty self sufficient.”

 

Allan has already checked her file and it does not say anything about her having problems but he wants Mr Heath to feel in control and useful. “Thank you that would be helpful.”  He waits a beat before adding. “We found some letters and her diaries and they mention a man by the letter H. Would that be you?”

 

Again no reaction if he is lying he is very good at it.  “No, I cannot imagine so. I certainly never wrote any letter.”

 

La Cour who has been listening to this exchange turns and adds “could we trouble you for a sample of your handwriting?”

 

“Yes, I can write something.”  He goes to his desk.

 

La Cour points to a list on the wall of names with points by the them “is this your writing?”

 

“Yes.”  Simon makes his way over to La Cour and stands next to him.   “I am trying to incentivise the kids to be on time. They gets points for being here on time and then taken away if they are late.  At the end of the term there is a prize.”

 

La Cour looks at Kate’s row she appears to be about third.  “Kate seems to have been late more than usual this past month.”

 

Mr Heath leans in and looks at the her row.  “Yeah a few minutes here and there.”

 

“Was that unusual?”  La Cour looks at Mr Heath who takes a step back.  “Did she give a reason?”

 

“Perhaps it was unusual but I don’t remember if she did give a reason.”  He runs his hand through his hair again and sighs. “It was never a huge amount so I guess.  I never thought about it. As I said this whole thing has been a wake up call to pay more attention to the quieter students.”

 

La Cour looks at the long list of names about thirty all together. “Must be hard though with such large class sizes.”

 

Mr Heath sighs again. “Yeah it’s not easy and we are understaffed too but that’s not an excuse when a kid dies on our watch.”

 

La Cour nods in agreement. “Can I take it?”

 

“Yeah I guess,” Mr Heath responds and takes out his phone. “Let me take a photo so i have a record of the points to make another.”  He snaps a picture of the chart before La Cour carefully removes it from the wall.

 

“Remind me of your whereabouts that day?”  Fischer asks as he if cannot remember which he most assuredly can.

 

“I was here until around 4pm then I went to the shops and bought some food for dinner and then I went home worked for a while, cooked, ate my dinner, watched TV and then went to bed.”  He had told Allan this the first time round but does not appear annoyed to be repeating himself.

 

“You live alone?”  La Cour asks.

 

“Yes I am afraid so,  no one can co-orbirate my story.”  He says with almost a laugh, he is acting far too relaxed.  Innocent people when accused of something sweat, those hiding something and practiced at it don’t.

 

“No Girlfriend?  Or Boyfriend?” Fischer asks judging the response which he finds lacking.

 

“Not much time for that outside of work and I don’t like to date women I work with, it can get complicated.”  Fischer knows that all too well.

 

“What did you watch? On tv.” La Cour asks moving so he is stood next to Allan who tries not to react to the sudden proximity as he knows La Cour is doing it to intimidate.

 

“Um god I am not sure I think it was something on netflix.  Probably some boxset I was ploughing through at the time I tend to switch off a bit, check my phone it through it you know.”  He is starting to sweat slightly now but Allan feels as if this is just a part of his act. “You don’t think I had anything to do with her death do you?”

 

Allan smiles “we have to investigate every possibility no matter how small.  I am sure you can understand that.”

 

“Yes, yes of course.”  Heath says evenly.

 

“Well we should be going. Thank you Mr Heath, we shall be in touch.” La Cour says as they make their way out of the door with the chart.

  


As they walk outside the cacophony seems to have died down. The sky is blue but the air is cold. Fischer lights a smoke as they leave.

 

“I don’t trust him.”  Fischer says between drags. “I think he’s hiding something.”

 

They keep step easily as they near the car. “I can’t say I disagree. I’m not sure if it is the same handwriting though. I agree  he’s hiding something.”

 

They stop once they get to car. Fischer leans on the side finishing his cigarette while La Cour stands opposite watching. “We will send it to an expert to be sure.”

 

La Cour nods and silence settles between them. As Fischer finishes his smoke just before they both get in the car Mr Heath appears hurrying out of the main doors towards his car. They watch as he sees them, stops in his tracks a moment, before awkwardly waving and putting on his cycle helmet he unchains his bike and cycles off.

 

“Definitely hiding something.” Fischer says and gets in the car.  “I will get Dormer to look into him again in case we missed something.”

 

La Cour gets in the car and watches as Allan gets out his phone and calls Dormer.  “Hey, yeah can you start a background check into Mr Heath.” A pause while she answers. “Great.  Yes we will back soon going to the Coroners then heading back.” Another pause. “Okay thanks.” Another pause.  “Yup good work Dormer see you in a while.” He hangs up the phone he notices that La Cour is looking at him. “What?”

 

“Nothing.  Just Dormer she’s nice.”  La Cour smirks, Allan gives him the strangest look and he feels bad for bringing it up, maybe Allan isn’t single.  “Sorry I just.”

 

“We agreed to keep things professional right?  So leave Dormer out of this.” Allan says and starts the car.

 

***

**Tuesday 5th December 2006**

**Coroners Office, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

 

The coroners office is a small building at the back of the main hospital.  It is very dingy and has those too bright fluorescent lights that all hospitals have.  All the walls are painted a faded shade of a rather depressing green. The whole place smells like chemicals.  Once they get there Allan is even more monosyllabic than usual. La Cour knows he misstepped with the Dormer comment and hopes that if he keeps his head low Fischer will come round.  He cannot have fucked up again so soon. He hopes.

 

The Coroner is a woman is her late fifties, she has grey hair chopped short and startling blue eyes, she still has wonderful skin and La Cour thinks she looks like a throwback to the classic hollywood era.  She is very striking. However she is also clearly busy and harrassed and apparently the only person in the department who has any idea of what is going on. As they get there she is fielding questions from four different Doctors and looks relieved to see Fischer as this means she can send these people away.  Which she does with a wave of hand. La Cour likes her. She apparently likes Allan as she gives him a warm smile and greets him like they are old friends.

 

“This is Detective La Cour he has been sent over to help.”  Fischer says and touches La Cour briefly on the shoulder before withdrawing the touch.   “Thomas this is Patricia, best Coroner I know.” She smiles and puts out her hand.

 

“You better not let Boysen hear you say that.”  La Cour responds as his hand she firmly shakes his hand.

 

She smiles at Allan again “charmer this one.”  She says and winks at him.

 

La Cour briefly wonders if she and Allan are an item and that’s why he reacted strangely about Dormer but then  he sees the ring on her finger, but then again when did something like that ever stop Allan before. “I have some questions about the report.”  Allan says.

 

“Thought you would my dear, come on through.”  She makes her way through the large doors to her office and they follow.

 

Allan leans into La Cour and whispers “she’s gay, married for years, so no there is nothing going on.”  

 

La Cour smiles and thinks for everyone who thinks he has an ability to read people they discount Fischer who seems to have a direct line to his brain sometimes it’s downright scary.  “I didn’t say anything.”

 

“Didn’t have to.”  Allan smiles and La Cour hopes that means he has gotten over whatever ennui came over him earlier.

 

They follow Patricia through to her office and close the door after them.  She takes off her lab coat and puts on her jacket and sitting down at her desk she begins typing at her computer to bring up the file on Kate.  “Take a seat.” She says without looking up and both La Cour and Allan sit down on the two chairs on the other side of her desk while she brings up the file.  Her desk is covered with piles of papers and files. La Cour looks around the office which is lined with shelves filled with various textbooks, journals and books.  There are diagrams of the body on the walls too and various medical sculptures of different parts of the body. There are a few glass fronted cabinets that hold jars of various scary looking things that La Cour does not want to think about, he shivers slightly.  He notices that Allan is smirking at him again, he shrugs his shoulders and looks at Patricia.

 

“Okay here we are.”  Patricia says and looks at them.  “I assume you are going to ask me about the sexual activity whether it was consensual?”

 

Allan nods “it seemed as if initially it was deemed as assault.”  

 

Patricia clasps her hand on the table and leans forward “yes I think the ME who first examined her assumed as much because of her age and the state of the body.  However she had been left overnight in harsh conditions so her body was in a state that could be mistaken for having been assaulted. However on closer examination I would argue that it was possible that the sex was consensual, or at least as much consent as a fourteen year old girl can give an adult male.  We did not find any semen, he used protection. There was no bruising, tearing or cuts which would be usual in a more violent assault. However she was still fourteen and therefore underage so it’s rape whichever way you look at it.”

 

La Cour leans forward a little. “We found some letters and a diary which seemed to indicate she was having a relationship with a man so it is possible that it escalated.  Is there anyway to tell if she had been sexual active for a prolonged amount of time?” La Cour asks.

 

“There is no way to know for sure.  Her hymen was not intact so she has had sex but I cannot tell you how many times.  There is some evidence she had sex before she died as there is some residue from the condom and some swelling, but as said no tearing so it seems it was not rough at least.”  Patricia says, glancing at Allan.

 

“There was no DNA on the body that could help us?”  Allan asks.

 

Patricia checks the file again. “I am still waiting for a few tests from her clothes and some fibres we found but so far, no.  She was exposed to the elements for such a long time and it rained that evening so a lot of what would have been there has been washed away or contaminated. I have put a rush on all the tests so hopefully it will not be long.”  Patricia clasps her hands and leans back in her chair. “So do you think we might be looking for someone who groomed her?”

 

La Cour grimaces “yes it appears that way.  Someone she called H.”

 

“I hope you find the son of a bitch before he does anything like this again.”  She says and La Cour smiles, seeing why her and Allan got on so well.

 

“Do you know much about a Mr Heath at the high school?”  Allan asks as he knows the community of Scarborough is relatively small most people know each other.

 

She grimaces “no, not much.  I have a niece who goes to that school though.  I can ask her if she knows anything. She was a year above Kate so didn’t know her.”

 

“Okay, thanks and keep us updated on those results.”  Allan says standing up.

 

“Will do Allan, I want to catch this guy as much as you do.”  She says looking directly at Allan, La Cour feels a little excluded but dismisses the feeling.

 

They leave together in comfortable silence as Allan lights up a cigarette andLa Cour waits for him to finish.  Allan fixes him with a serious look and then laughs. “What?” La Cour asks.

 

“Nothing, just, why are you so interested in who I may or may not be dating?”  Allan takes a long drag of his cigarette and watches La Cour’s face as seemingly many different emotions cross it.

 

“Just want you to be happy that’s all.” La Cour looks away, pauses a moment and then looks back.  

 

“Why are you suddenly so concerned with my happiness?”  As soon as Allan says it he regrets it seeing the hurt look on La Cour’s face.  “Sorry lets just go.” Allan puts out his cigarette and gets in the car.

 

La Cour takes a moment and then gets in the car.  “I meant it when I said I was sorry I know it doesn’t mean much but I meant it.”

 

Allan starts the car and looks at La Cour “I know.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are lovingly adored xx


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday he spent the entire day working with La Cour, interviewing, reading through evidence. It was like it used to be. It was easy and he found he felt less chaotic than usual, his mind was less tortured just having La Cour near him. That calming presence. He hates at how easily he can just let the man back in to his life again. He can rationalise it that he had no choice but even when he rang Ingrid back he put up minimal resistance because he knows how well they both work together. He sighs and leans his head back, closing his eyes and feeling the breeze on his skin. He thinks about asking La Cour to join him on these runs like they used to but he is not ready yet he needs more time. He needs a part of his day alone to collect himself before spending so many hours in his presence again.
> 
> He shakes his head as if to dispel these thoughts and gets up, runs as fast as he can until all thoughts have left his mind.

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**West Pier Coastal walk, Scarborough**

 

The next day Allan is up early for his usual run.  He has found a route along the coast that has some stunning views and means he gets a good amount of sea air before he has to go back inside again.  Leaving the hotel he jogs to the coastal path before setting off at a brisk pace. He rarely sees anyone the sun is only just coming up when he leaves, just the occasional dog walker and other runner.  This morning the sunset is beautiful large swaths of reds and pinks, the waves are calmer today gently coming in against the rocks as the sunlight dances on the surface of the water.

 

He takes a moment to sit at one of benches and take in the view.  Moments like this, when he is alone staring at the sea, he feels a sense of calm he usually cannot find when he is in the midst of his day. When he is thinking the worst about people, assuming the nice dedicated teacher was in fact having underage sex with his student and possibly murdered her.  Right now though he can just think about his limbs aching from running, the sweat running down his back and the sun as it rises above the water. Life seems simple this early in the morning. 

 

Yesterday he spent the entire day working with La Cour, interviewing, reading through evidence.  It was like it used to be. It was easy and he found he felt less chaotic than usual, his mind was less tortured just having La Cour near him.  That calming presence. He hates at how easily he can just let the man back in to his life again. He can rationalise it that he had no choice but even when he rang Ingrid back he put up minimal resistance because he knows how well they both work together.  He sighs and leans his head back, closing his eyes and feeling the breeze on his skin. He thinks about asking La Cour to join him on these runs like they used to but he is not ready yet he needs more time. He needs a part of his day alone to collect himself before spending so many hours in his presence again.

 

He shakes his head as if to dispel these thoughts and gets up, runs as fast as he can until all thoughts have left his mind. 

 

*** 

**Wednesday 6th December**

**Travelodge, St Nicholas Cliff, Scarborough**

 

Making it back to the hotel in record time he is heaving, sweaty and looking forward to a shower before finding some breakfast.  He calls for the lift and waits, glad it’s early so not many guests around to witness him in this state. The only people around are a few staff members starting to put up small tired looking Christmas trees with fairy lights that probably would not pass a pac test.   The lift bell rings and the doors open and of course La Cour is there dressed in his usual attire (Allan idly wonders if he owns anything else). 

 

“Hey.”  La Cour says and steps out of the lift he looks Allan up and down as the doors close behind him. “Been for a run?”  He asks rather obviously.

 

“Yeah.”  Allan says as he rakes his hand through his wet hair, feeling self-conscious under La Cour’s scrutiny.

 

“You having breakfast I can get us a table? Wait for you?”  La Cour is hopeful and Allan cracks.

 

“Sure, let me shower then I will be down.”  He reaches past La Cour and presses the lift call button again and the doors open with a gentle ‘ping’.  Allan steps around La Cour and into the lift as the doors close he could have sworn he saw a blush on La Cour’s face but he dismisses it.

  
  


La Cour makes his way to the restaurant to get him and Allan a table.  He feels flustered but ignores it. He hadn’t expected to see Allan but then he should have remembered his habit of going for early morning runs.  They used to go together when they were out on cases. La Cour remembers the competition between them and feeling his breath leave his lungs as he desperately tried to catch up to Allan.  There is a small part of him that feels a little hurt that Allan had not asked him to join but it is early days. They are speaking at least, small steps he reminds himself. He orders coffee for two and grabs the local newspaper and looks through it while he waits for Allan.

  
  


He does not have to wait long before Allan appears, freshly showered wearing his worn out suit, there is still a flush to his cheeks from his run.  Easily spotting La Cour in the near empty dining room as it is still way too early for most guests, Allan sits down and helps himself to the coffee from the pot on the table.  La Cour folds the paper and puts it down on the table, making sure to put it face down as the headline is about Kate and he doesn’t think Fischer needs that first thing in the morning.  The british press can be less than kind about the police.

 

La Cour watches as Allan gulps his coffee and pours more.  “You should go easier on the caffeine if you are still having trouble sleeping.”  Allan frowns and continues pouring himself another cup of coffee ignoring La Cour completely who puts his hands up in defeat “just trying to help.”  

 

The waitress comes by and they order breakfast after she leaves  Allan picks up the newspaper before La Cour can stop him. “What vitriol do they have for us today?”  

 

La Cour frowns again and decides to drink his own coffee “nothing good” he says placing his cup back down.  “They seem to have found out about my arrival very quickly.”

 

Allan huffs a laugh “yeah I am pretty sure we have a leak in the department.”

 

“You do?”  La Cour is surprised at Allan’s nonchalance.

 

“Yeah but it can useful.  Sometimes in cases like this the press can be helpful.  It is also why I give any important admin tasks to Dormer.  I know she is not the leak she is too close to the case. Has family at the school.”  Allan had made it a point to check out the entire team before he started working the case.

 

La Cour smiles, of course Allan would know that.  “She told me.”

 

“She did?” Allan feels a little irked that Dormer told La Cour that much, he wonders what else they chatted about. 

 

“Yeah she was concerned that there was too much politics between us reminded me that we were there for a reason.”  It had been that little talk that had made La Cour determined to find Allan at the pub that night.

 

Fischer smiles and laughs, he can see now that Dormer was trying to help “yeah she seems shy but she has a bite to her I like it.  She reminds me of Gaby.”

 

“I thought the same.”  La Cour says as silence settles between them at the mention of Gaby.  “Do you hear from her? Gaby?”

 

Allan looks down at the paper and takes so long deciding to answer that La Cour is convinced he has misstepped again. La Cour is about to try and back peddle but then Allan decides to answer.  “Occasionally. She would email me when I was at the Hague. Ingrid used to call and keep me informed too.” Gaby’s emails were always fairly surface just details about Johnny’s condition. He had answered as best he could but it was always hard.  Ingrid and her were close and she would say that Gaby had good days and bad days. “What about you? Did you hear from the team before you got sent here?”

 

“A little, I was working in a different department but IP would occasionally call and meet me for a beer.” He had thought about visiting Johnny but IP had made it clear that was not the best idea.  Gaby still blamed him for a lot of what had happened rightly or wrongly. The fact that Gaby still spoke to Fischer made him simultaneously glad and slightly irked. 

 

“How is IP?”  Allan asks seeing that hearing about his contact with Gaby has made La Cour uncomfortable he cannot help but react to La Cour feeling bad.  

 

La Cour smiles and thinks of the last time he saw him “good actually, new lady in his life.  Semi-retired still gets calls from Ingrid and Ulf on occasion.” 

 

Allan nods he is glad IP is happy he deserves it.  “Good I am glad he is doing well.”

 

Their eggs come and they both eat in comfortable silence.  “You know if you want you can come with me.” Allan hears himself say.

 

La Cour looks up from his breakfast “where?”

 

“On my run,  If you want? Like we used to.”  Allan is not sure when he made this decision and he is pretty sure he is a fool for making it but the words have left his mouth now.  Seeing La Cour smile he feels that warm feeling he always used to get when he made La Cour happy and curses himself for his weakness.

 

“I would like that.  If you are sure?” La Cour is more pleased than he should be at this invite maybe he can win Fischer’s trust back after all.

 

“Sure.  Why not.”  Fischer hopes he sounds nonplussed but that smile of La Cour’s is infectious and he can feel the mirroring grin appear on his face before he can stop it.

  
  


***

 

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarboroug** h

 

Dormer has been working late and has managed to complete the thorough background check on Mr Heath, it is ready and waiting for when La Cour and Allan get in. The chart that they had taken from the classroom and one of the letters had been sent to the expert in Leeds.  She also made a hard copy of the list of H names in Kate’s life and added that to the pile of papers she placed on Allan’s desk this morning. She is anticipating with this new evidence that they will want to speak to Kate’s friends again so she called the school and got their schedules and up to date contact information.  She was feeling pretty pleased with herself before she saw the morning paper and its vitriolic headline about the police and their lack of leads. She is pretty sure that Tony one of the other PC’s cousin works for the paper she thinks about mentioning it to Fischer as she is sure he is the one leaking out information. She always closes down and locks her computer whenever she is away from her desk and she would not put it past him to snoop.

 

Her mother calls her every day and asks her if they have leads yet.  She always says they are working on it. She hopes they will soon. It seems as if Mr Heath is current suspect number one and she really hopes it’s not true because that school is not going to survive a scandal like that.  She wanted to ask her mother if he taught her sister but knew that the moment she did her mother would have pulled her sister out of school and all hell would break loose. So instead she had checked when she asked for the schedules and was relieved to find that no he didn’t.  She felt bad about the slight abuse of power but figures she wasn’t hurting anyone and there has to be some perks to having a big sister in the police.

 

She is mulling all of this over when Fischer and La Cour come in together.  She smiles at the sight as this surely must mean they have put whatever differences they had aside.  Fischer actually seems better since La Cour got here, this morning he looks like he might have slept last night.  Must be lonely being away from home, different language and customs so having someone who speaks the same language must be nice.  She doesn’t know that much about Fischer’s past other than they were told he was an expert in difficult cases. Dormer is not a gossip or a snoop she trusts the system and judges people how she finds them.  In Fischer’s case he may be moody but underneath he cares and he is good and thorough at his job. The fact that he is so easy on the eyes helps. 

 

As has become her habit she always tries to be loitering around when Allan gets in so she can get him some coffee and let him know what she has put on his desk.  She knows she is probably being a bit too keen but she cannot help herself it’s just who she is. She enjoys her job, she is good at it and wants to give a good impression.  Anticipating La Cour as well she has gotten two mugs and is filling them up with coffee when they enter the small kitchen chattering away in Danish, she likes the sound of the language, maybe she could get Fischer to teach her some.

 

“Morning Dormer.”  She is shaken out her revelry by the accented English of La Cour.

 

“Morning.”  Dormers responds to both of them handing them each a coffee.

 

Fischer takes his as if it is a lifeline just like always and she smiles. “I finished the background report on Mr Heath added it to your desk, I also got the schedules for Kate’s friends in case you wanted to talk to them again, and I printed out the list of H names.”  

 

Allan smiles “good work.  Why don’t you save us some reading and brief us about Mr Heath.”  

 

Dormer can feel she is practically beaming but cannot help it.  “Okay yeah.”

 

“Give us ten minutes then bring the rest of the team into the conference room and you can go through everything you have found.”  Allan says.

 

“Actually.”  She says and closes the door behind her looking around she does not see Tony, he is not in yet.  “I wanted to say I am pretty sure Tony’s cousin works for the newspaper. I wonder if it is him that has been leaking information.  I always close down my screen when I am not there and keep all my papers safe. I do not know if you want him in on the briefing.”

 

Allan smiles he had suspected this and trust Dormer to have found out who it was.  “Good detective work Dormer. Is he in yet?”

 

“No, his shift does not start until ten and he is not usually keen to be in before.”  The ‘unlike me’ goes unsaid but not unnoticed.

 

La Cour looks at his watch 9.03am “then I suggest we get started without him.”

 

“Agreed.”  Fischer responds.  “Oh and Dormer good work and keep an eye on him for us.”

 

“Will do boss.”  She says and leaves the kitchen to go and gather her thoughts before the briefing.

 

Turns out there isn’t much on Heath despite Dormer’s digging.  There are no complaints about him, he is well liked and popular amongst the students and staff.  This is his second teaching job, his first in Scarborough he moved here from Brighton. Dormer points out that it is unusual for young people to move here  but not unheard of and this school is a similar one to the one he taught at in Brighton another British seaside town. The circumstances under which he left seem amiable, no complaints and glowing references from everyone.

 

Dormer spoke to the Headmaster of Kate’s school though and he did say that he remembered an incident a few months back where he found Kate talking to Mr Heath unaccompanied in his classroom with the door closed.  All the doors have windows so they could be seen and nothing untoward appeared to be happening. The Head had entered and reminded them to keep the door open or use the counsellors room if there was a problem. He did not remember Kate seeming upset and Mr Heath had said it was a matter about some homework.  The Head had left them to it and walked past a few minutes later and the door was still open and as far as he could tell they were still discussing class work.

 

“He didn’t mention this.”  La Cour says looking at Allan.

 

“No.  I think perhaps we should talk again to Mr Heath.”  Allan says and La Cour nods. “Great work Dormer.” He adds trying to ignore the way she beams at him with this praise. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos bring me life!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So Detective how can I help you?” Mr Heath still seemed relaxed and unperturbed by this repeat questioning.
> 
> “Take a seat” Fischer gestures as he leans against the edge of the desk and takes out his notebook and pen. Mr Heath smiles and does as he is told and takes a seat at the one of the kids’ desk at the front facing Fischer. “You said that Kate never came to you with any problems.”
> 
> “Not that I recall but as I said we have a lot of students it’s no excuse but it’s hard to remember every detail.” This is a large school and understaffed so it is perfectly reasonable for Heath to argue this but still it feels like an evasion to Fischer. Allan does not like him, not one bit.

**Wednesday 6th December**

**Ashburn Secondary School, Ashburn rd, Scarborough**

 

Allan had put Dormer on contacting the friends of Kate’s parents, arranging to bring them in or if they could go to them.  As they were all minors they had to have a parent present at interviews. Fischer decided they should split up this morning and La Cour could go and talk to Frank again;  see if he knew anything about this Mr Heath maybe gauge telling him too much. He trusted La Cour to handle a delicate situation. Fischer went to the school to have another chat with Mr Heath.  He would meet La Cour back at the station before lunch by which time they hoped Dormer would have a schedule of interviews set up.

 

He flashed his badge once more to get in to the school and was directed to the staff room where he found Mr Heath.  They relocated to a nearby empty classroom. Fischer closes the door after them.

 

“So Detective how can I help you?”  Mr Heath still seemed relaxed and unperturbed by this repeat questioning.

 

“Take a seat” Fischer gestures as he leans against the edge of the desk and takes out his notebook and pen.  Mr Heath smiles and does as he is told and takes a seat at the one of the kids’ desk at the front facing Fischer.  “You said that Kate never came to you with any problems.”

 

“Not that I recall but as I said we have a lot of students it’s no excuse but it’s hard to remember every detail.”  This is a large school and understaffed so it is perfectly reasonable for Heath to argue this but still it feels like an evasion to Fischer.  Allan does not like him, not one bit.

 

Fischer nods “I can only imagine.  We heard from your Head that he had seen you with Kate in your Form room a few months ago.”  Allan watches for any flicker of a reaction from Heath but there is nothing. “He remembered it because the door was closed and you were alone which is against school policy.”

 

Mr  Heath leans back in his chair and runs his hand through his hair again and he tries to remember what Fischer is talking about. “I do not remember that.  I cannot imagine I would have overlooked the door policy but…”

 

“He says he came in and reminded you, the next time he came by the door was open but you were still talking.”  Fischer watches Heath but he is still giving nothing away.

 

“Did he happen to mention what it was we were talking about?”  Heath leans forward again and looks Fischer right in they eye.

 

“Homework apparently.”  Fischer says and does not bother to keep the scepticism out of his voice.

 

“When was this?”  Heath asks doing a very good impression of trying to remember.  Allan is not convinced.

 

Allan makes a show of checking his notebook even though he remembers exactly. “A few months ago, September the beginning of the school year.”  

 

Heath takes a moment and runs through his memory in his mind “I honestly cannot recall it.  Beginning of the year we were working on Animal Farm in English so maybe it was about that. I know I set an essay at the start of the year so it could have been that but I am so sorry I cannot remember.” 

 

Allan pauses and makes a note on his pad. “Do you keep any record of students questions?”  

 

Heath shakes his head. “No, not as a rule but I can dig out the paper and see it jogs my memory.”  Again that accommodating manner it does nothing to alleviate Fischer’s concerns. 

 

“I can wait.”  Fischer says. “I will be outside having a smoke come and find me.”  

 

“You cannot smoke on school grounds.”  Heath reminds him.

 

“Then I shall be outside school grounds.”  Fischer says as he leaves already taking out his cigarettes in anticipation.

  
  


It is not long until Mr Heath appears clutching a copy of Kate’s paper.  Allan is stood outside of the school gates smoking and checking his phone, which has a message from Dormer saying she has arranged interviews this afternoon once school is out, one of which is  with Kate’s best friend Sophie Pemberton. He holds his hand up to Mr Heath to ask him to wait while he listens to the voicemail. Eventually Dormer finishes her waffling message and he hangs up, smokes another drag of his cigarette and puts his phone back in his pocket.

 

“Here is the essay I think she was asking about but I honestly cannot remember what her question was.”  Mr Heath hands Allan the essay which he takes, he notes the grade a B.

 

“Thank you and if you recall anything else please let us know.”  Allan gets a card out which has the stations number on it and gives it to Mr Heath who takes it and looks at it.  “If I or my partner are unavailable ask for PC Dormer.” As he says this he imagines how proud Dormer will be that he trusts her and just about resists rolling his eyes.

 

“Will do.”  Mr Heath says and walks away with his hands in his pocket back to the school.  Allan watches him while he finishes his cigarette.

 

***

  
  
  
  


**Wednesday 6th December**

**Kate Steven’s Home, Broom Walk, Scarborough**

 

La Cour is ushered into the living room where he sits on the old worn out brown couch listening to Frank make yet more tea in the kitchen.  It is a british thing - tea holding society together. While he is waiting La Cour looks around the room as the sunlight streams in from the bay window through the net curtains making shadows on the beige carpet.  There is a clock ticking away on the mantelpiece it sounds too loud for the room. The TV is on but muted some property programme by the looks of it. He looks at the walls there is a family photo framed to his left.  Above the fireplace is an old gun which looks like it is from the war, it is in a glass case with a small plaque, it looks as if it belonged to Frank’s father. The rest of the walls are covered in watercolour paintings of local beaches, there is one depicting the brightly painted beach huts with kids and dogs playing outside, striped deck chairs and ice cream.  A quintessential english beachside scene. 

 

Frank appears and hands La Cour a cup of strong, milky tea.  “I feel like I have become a professional tea maker.” Frank jokes but the smile doesn't reach his eyes.  “It’s all I do these days, make tea.”

 

La Cour smiles sympathetically “I hear it is the english way.”

 

“Yeah.”  Frank responds weakly and sits down on the armchair.

 

“How is Rose?” La Cour asks looking at the door to the hallway and upstairs where he imagines Rose still to be.

 

“The same.  Doctor is coming again this afternoon to check in on her.   It would be helpful if I could give her some news though on the investigation.”  Franks says this in a manner that is not angry just resigned verging on frustrated.  La Cour is sympathetic as Frank must feel as if he has to shoulder this all by himself.

 

“Is there anyone else in the family or maybe friends around to help you?  Support you through this?” La Cour asks, Frank seems so alone and isolated.  He needs people around him he has lost everything.

  
  


“My sister lives in Birmingham and we are not close, she calls, she came up when it first happened but I think grief bores people after a while.  The support officer has been great she comes by every day and PC Dormer has been around most days after her shift to check in.” Frank sounds tired, he is a big man, strong but he looks small right now, his skin is pale and he looks as if he aged ten years in a few weeks,

 

La Cour smiles at the fact that Dormer has been around to check in on them.  “We may have had a breakthrough that’s what I am here to ask you about.” Frank looks up at that expectant and nervous.  In this situation even what it is termed as good news is likely to tear open a new hole in your heart. “Did you know that Kate kept a diary?”

 

Frank shakes his head “no, you mentioned it to Rose when you were last here.  That’s what you found? A diary?”

 

“Yes and some letters.” La Cour notes the look of confusion run across Frank’s face.  “I take it you didn’t know she kept one.”

 

“No” Frank says “no idea.  What letters?”

 

La Cour decides to avoid directly answering that question just yet. “Did Kate have any boyfriends that you were aware of?  Anyone whose name began with H or who she referred to as H.” La Cour can see the flickering of understanding behind Frank’s eyes and he knows he has to play this carefully.

 

“No, not that I can think of.”  Frank says trying to remember anything.   “She didn’t really talk to us about boys much, maybe her Mother but we were both so busy.  As far as I know she didn’t have any boyfriends and the letter H does not ring a bell.” Frank looks pained he wishes he could help more.  “Have you asked her friends? Sophie and her spent most afternoons together she used to sleep over sometimes. She might know.”

 

La Cour places his cup of tea down on a coaster on the coffee table he takes out his notepad and pen, “Sophie?  What is her last name? We are re-interviewing her friends this afternoon.”

 

“Sophie Pemberton.”  Frank says and watches as La Cour writes the name down.  “We will ask her again.”

 

“What did the diaries say?  Can we see them?” Frank asks and La Cour keeps his face neutral.

 

“They are being catalogued for evidence but once they are done yes we will return them to you.”  La Cour takes a steadying breath before asking this question as he knows how he would react if someone asked him. “I know this is hard but we have reason to believe that Kate may have been in a relationship with this H.  Did you know she was sexually active?”

 

Frank goes even paler so La Cour knows the answer before he speaks.  “No. You think this H slept with her and killed her.”

 

“It looks as if the the sex was consensual.”  La Cour speaks gently.

 

“She was fourteen it was not consensual.”  Frank says through gritted teeth,

 

“By that I mean she was not attacked it was not violent.”  La Cour clarifies.

 

“But you are saying that she…” His voice trails off and La Cour can see his hand is shaking and he is about spill his tea.  La Cour leans over and takes the tea from him placing it on the coffee table before he sits back down.

 

“Yes.  Can you think of anyone who she might have been close to?”  La Cour’s voice is gentle as he watches Frank stare at the carpet trying not to imagine his daughter in ways he had never wanted to.

 

Frank takes a few deep breaths before answering “no, no-one.  She only seemed to have female friends if it wasn’t for the boy band posters we used to joke we thought she might be gay.”  

 

“Is there anyone in her life?  A family friend, a teacher she talked about who has an H name?”  La Cour notices the slight flicker in Frank’s mind as he realises that whoever his daughter was sleeping with could have been significantly older.

 

“No, I don’t think so.”  Frank’s voice is far away and La Cour can see the hundreds of awful thoughts that are racing through his mind and he wishes he could take them away.  This part of the job is never easy, revealing things about loved ones that people never wanted to know.

 

“Did she ever mention her form and english teacher Mr Heath?  Did you ever meet him at parents evenings?” La Cour knows he has to be careful as Frank is a grieving Father and in many ways a grieving husband and that kind of pain can make a man unpredictable.

 

“Rose did all the school stuff I don’t think I ever went to any of the parents evenings.”  Frank finally looks up at La Cour, his eyes are threatening to spill over in tears. “You think he might be H?”

 

“We don’t know, he is on a list of possible people we are looking into it.  Can I show you the list and see if anyone stands out?” La Cour says as he carefully retrieves the list from his pocket.  He hands it to Frank who takes it, his hands are shaking slightly as he reads it.

 

“No, none of these ring a bell.  I do not remember her talking about Mr Heath  but I do not remember her talking about teachers at school that much.  She was an average student, school was never that big of a deal for her.”  Frank is staring at the list still as if he cannot move his eyes from it. “I can show it to Rose when she wakes up and ask her.”

 

“I would appreciate that.  If you think of anything else in the meantime, anyone she may have had a close relationship with, an adult or someone older let us know.”  Franks nods his head. “Do you have our card?”

 

Frank looks up “I am not sure.”

 

“Let me give you another one, you can call us anytime or pass on any information to Dormer.”  La Cour hands him a card which he takes and places both the card and list on the table.

 

“Are you alright?”  La Cour asks knowing the answer could only be no.

 

“Yes, yes it’s just a bit of a shock.”  Frank is staring at the carpet again.

 

“Would you like me to stay for a bit?”  La Cour asks.

 

Frank looks up and smiles weakly “no, no its fine the Doctor will be here in a bit.  I will let Dormer know when she comes by if Rose has any thoughts about the list.”

 

“Okay.”  La Cour stands up.  “I can see myself out and please call us if you think of anything.”

 

“Will do.” Frank answers weakly still staring blankly at the carpet.

 

La Cour goes to leave and then turns remembering something “Frank when I came to search Kate’s room had it been tidied?  It seemed very neat for a teenage girl.”

 

Frank looks up and smiles “I think it was Sophie.”

 

“Sophie?”  La Cour clarifies.

 

“She came by just after it happened.”  Frank says, remembering how seeing her had reminded him of Kate as much as he didn’t want it to.   “She wanted to go into Kate’s room was last time, I told her she could. When I went back in I noticed she had tidied it I think she was trying to help.”

 

“Okay.”  La Cour nods and files the information away in his mind.   “Thank you Frank.” La Cour says and makes his way out.

 

As La Cour makes his way back to the car he checks his phone where there is a voicemail from Dormer.  He listens to it and smiles as she is ahead of the game and has already set up and interviews with Sophie Pemberton.  Allan knows how to pick good people. La Cour is enjoying working with Fischer again, it almost feels like old times how easily they can slip into that comfortable working relationship.  He has never had that with anyone else, most people find him strange, his ability to put things together off putting. Fischer has always just accepted him right from the start. That feeling of guilt comes back and makes him feel too hot, he shakes his head to dispel the feeling as he gets into the car.  Focus, La Cour thinks, focus on the case and stop thinking about Allan.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is still reading thank you!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What is it Dormer?” Allan asks as they reach the car. The street is empty, no people and the houses are quiet. Most people at work and the children are all at school. It is eery really, this whole town seems to be existing in shifts.
> 
> “Do you think she is telling us the truth?” Dormer asks looking at Allan as he sucks the last of his cigarette before throwing it the ground and treading on it. She frowns as she thinks that is littering and technically illegal but she probably shouldn’t point that out to her boss as much as she wants to.
> 
> Fischer does not notice her disapproval and clicks the button on the car key to open it. “I think she could be hiding something but she has given us enough to look closer into Mr Heath and we can talk to Frank find see if we can speak to this cousin.”
> 
> Dormer nods and smiles she feels good her instincts are the same as Fischer’s. She gets into the car with a even wider smile feeling as if she is really helping on this case, she can’t wait to tell her mother all about it when she gets home tonight.

**Wednesday 6th December**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

By the time Thomas returns from the Steven’s house Allan is already back and pouring over something at his desk in the conference room.  There are copies of the letters and some of the significant diary entries pinned to the board in a timeline. La Cour enters the room and Fischer barely looks up.

 

“How was Mr Stevens?”  Allan asks as La Cour places a large sandwich from the place they went to the other day on his desk.  “Thanks.” Allan says as he sees it.

 

La Cour sits down at the larger conference table and begins to open his own roll.  “I think we may have to go on an extra long run every day if we are going keep eating these.”  

 

Allan smiles and laughs “yeah I try to limit myself to one a week but they are so good.”

 

“Frank mentioned Sophie Pemberton might know more about Kate’s personal life.  How did things go with Mr Heath?” La Cour says as he attempts to take the first bite from his gravy filled sub roll.

 

Allan is finding the sight of La Cour eating these ridiculous sandwiches oddly amusing and perhaps something else that he will not allow himself to think about.  “He still claims he has no memory of the incident with the door but he is not denying it happened just saying he cannot remember it.” Allan momentarily loses all thought as La Cour licks some gravy from his fingers, he coughs and looks away. “He thinks it had something to do with this essay on Animal Farm they were doing.”  Fischer’s brain thankfully reboots and he gathers himself again. “I got a copy of it and it is fairly innocuous. However I did start a timeline from the diaries as to when this relationship with H started.”

 

La Cour looks at the board “I can see that.”

 

“It seems as if she has been having a relationship with this H for about four months so just before the start of the new school year.”  Allan had been through everything with a fine tooth comb and was beginning to get a picture in his head of what had transpired. “The first mention of H was back in August.  She did not say where she met him only that she had been surprised to see him and that he had talked with her. The letters started from mid-september and continued until only a week before her death.  What is perhaps strange is that she does not mention the letters in her diary.”

 

“That is strange. When did our Mr Heath start working at the school?”  La Cour asks as he stands up and looks at the board giving a Fischer a reprieve from witnessing him eat his lunch.

 

“Last year.”  Fischer responds as he tucks into his food in the hope it will bring him some comfort, La Cour is right if he continues like this they will have to double the length of their run. 

 

“So it is possible Mr Heath has had his eye on Kate for a while before making his move.  Its doesn’t say where they met?” La Cour frowns as he looks at the copies of entries.

 

“No but there is a date so maybe we can figure out where she was.”  Allan says hopefully. “What else did Frank say?” 

 

La Cour makes his way back to the table and sits down to continue eating.  “He said he didn’t know Kate kept a diary, had no clue about who H was, as far as he knew she didn’t have boyfriends and he has never met Mr Heath.  He is going to check with Rose.” La Cour had left with a heavy heart leaving Frank alone with his grief. “Did you know Dormer stops by there every day?”

 

Allan stops eating for a moment “she does?”

 

“Yeah she goes by after her shift every day.  Goes above and beyond that one.” La Cour says and gives Allan one of those knowing smiles which he decides to ignore.

 

“She set up times to see some of Kate’s friends this afternoon.”  

 

“Yes I got her message,  Frank said that a Sophie Pemberton was a close friend, stayed over a few times so hopefully she might know who H was.”  La Cour says as he grabs one of the napkins he brought to wipe his mouth. “She went by after the murder and tidied her room.”

 

“Why?”  Allan asks.

 

“Not sure Frank said he thinks perhaps she thought she was helping.”  La Cour says between mouthfuls.

 

“I think she is first on the list this afternoon.  Actually I was thinking maybe we should take Dormer with us.”  Allan suggests and steadfastly ignores the look on La Cour’s face.  “It might be good to have a female officer with us.”

 

“Might be a bit intimidating all three of us.  Maybe just you and Dormer should go?” La Cour says and then holds his hands up when he sees Allan look irritated. “I didn’t mean anything by it just that I don’t think we should go en masse.”

 

Allan hums and thinks actually La Cour might be right.  “Good point. Okay I will go with Dormer. Maybe you could go through some of the surveillance footage from the nearby roads I have just had it all come through and not looked at it yet.”

 

“Okay.”  La Cour agrees and Allan focuses on finishing his meal.

 

***

 

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Sophie Pemberton’s house, Lowdale Avenue, Scarborough**

 

Dormer is almost bouncing at the idea of going with Allan to conduct an interview so much so she is already putting Allan on edge.  Before they get out of the car he turns to her “Dormer you need to be less excited. This is not an exciting thing we are doing.”

 

She goes bright red immediately and Allan feels bad La Cour was always better at this sort of thing than him,  “I just mean I know you are keen but please take a moment.”

 

“Sorry Sir.”  Dormer blushes and looks down awkwardly.

 

He laughs “I have told you Fischer is fine.”  He still finds the English sense of authority ridiculous especially when it is being directed at him.

 

“Sorry Fischer.”  Dormer takes a deep breath and calms herself down she just wants to do a good job.

 

“Better.”  he flashes her one of his winning smiles which does not help the heat on her cheeks but she smiles back and nods.

 

They go into the Pemberton house which is in the same area as the Steven’s just a few roads away.  It is a similar size and layout except with one more bedroom as the Pembertons have two children, Sophie has a brother Liam.  He is not home as he is playing football after school, his Dad has gone with him as the mother thought it best to keep him out of this questioning.  

 

“I sent Dan away”  Jackie says as she pours them all tea. “He has a tendency to not be particularly sensitive and he didn’t want Sophie getting upset.”  She says this in that way some people have of seeming nice but actually what she is saying is if you upset my daughter there will be hell to pay.  Fischer likes her. “She has been through so much already.” Jackie says, once all the tea is poured and biscuits offered, more chocolate bourbons which make Fischer frown, she sits closely to her daughter on the couch.

 

“Thank you for letting us speak to Sophie again Mrs Pemberton.”  Dormer says her sweet charm exactly why bringing her was such a good idea.  

 

“Please Hayley, come on now we all know each other round here!  Call me Jackie.” She says this with genuine affection which does not surprise Fischer  as everyone seems to like PC Dormer.

 

“Well Jackie thank you.”  Dormer says and sips her tea.  “Thank you Sophie as well we know this must be hard.  You and Kate were close?”

 

Jackie squeezes her daughters knee “thick as thieves!  Such a shock what’s happened.” Fischer is looking at Sophie who seems to be staring at her knees and wishing she were anywhere else but here.  He wishes he could talk to her without her mother but she is a minor.

 

“Is that how you would describe your friendship, Sophie?”  Allan asks keeping his voice gentle and his gaze on Sophie who does not answer but keeps looking down as if she could make herself smaller she would.

 

“Sophie”  Dormer tries “it’s okay we all trust Fischer he is only here to help.  You can be honest. It would help us if you could answer.”

 

She looks up at Dormer and sighs “yeah I guess, we spent a lot of time at each others houses.”

 

Fischer is pleased Sophie seems to trust Dormer, hopefully she will open up even with her mother here. “When was the last time you saw her?”  Fischer asks.

 

“I told you this before.”  Sophie says and looks at her Mum.

 

Fischer sighs softly and tries to catch Sophie’s eye.  He keeps his tone soft. “I know and I am sorry to drag it all up again but I just need to confirm some things.  Sooner you answer the sooner I will out of your hair.” Fischer says and tries one of smiles.

 

It seems to have worked because Sophie has a ghost of a smile on her face when she responds.  “I saw her after school we went into town to have a look in the shops. I left her there around 4.30.  That was the last time I saw her.”

 

“Okay.  We found a diary and some letters hidden in her room.  Did you know about those?” Allan can see there is a slight conflict in Sophie’s eyes as to whether she should say anything.  “It’s okay you can tell us.”

 

She takes a deep breath and then decides to speak, she looks at Fischer this time. “Yeah I knew she had a hiding place behind one of the posters.  I assumed she kept private stuff there.” Sophie seems to be easing up a bit now as Jackie quietly squeezes her knee in encouragement and Dormer softly smiles at her.

 

“Did you know she kept a diary?”  Allan asks holding her attention for the moment.

 

Sophie nods. “Yes I think I saw her with it a few times.”  

 

“She never showed you it?”  Allan asks again.

 

“No.”  Sophie is keeping Fischer’s gaze and he does not feel she is lying, she may be hiding something though.  

 

Fischer decides to try and get her on her own.  “Jackie would it be okay if I spoke to Sophie on my own.  Dormer can stay.”

 

Jackie looks at her daughter and then at Fischer and then at Dormer.  “Why?”

 

Fischer chooses his words carefully he doesn’t want to spook Jackie or Sophie.  Hopefully Dormer’s presence will swing it. “I just feel it is not fair to ask Sophie to talk about her best friend in front of her parent.”  He looks at Sophie. “Would that be okay?”

 

Sophie nods “yeah” she looks at her mum “it’s okay Mum, Hayley is still here.”

 

Jackie looks unsure until Dormer leans across and takes her hand “I promise to make sure she is okay Jackie.  Please just five minutes.”

 

“Alright but if you need me Sophie you shout.”  Jackie says and Sophie nods. Jackie leaves the room and closes the door.

 

“Thank you Sophie.”  Fischer says and gives another one of his gentle smiles, “you don’t have to answer any of these questions and for now we can keep it between us.”

 

“Okay.”  Sophie says unsure and is still looking at Dormer.

 

Dormer smiles and takes her hand “You can trust him Sophie cross my heart.”  Dormer reassures her.

 

Sophie nods and then looks at Fischer who speaks with a slightly firmer tone. “Do you know who H was?”

 

She shakes her head and looks at Dormer. “H?”  

 

“Kate wrote about an H in her diary she also received letters from him addressed to a PO box.  Did you know about anyone she was seeing?” Fischer’s voice is once again soft and gentle.

 

Sophie pauses for a moment, looks at the closed door then at Dormer.  She lowers her voice “I know she was seeing someone but I didn’t know who it was.  It wasn’t anyone at school, someone older.” 

 

Allan is so please he brought Dormer, Sophie is opening up now. He keeps calm and speaks in a measured voice. “What did she say about him?  Did she tell you where they met?” 

 

Sophie sighs and shakes her head “no I think they met before school started this year, end of August sometime.  She had been at a rave with her cousin I think.”

 

Dormer who still has a hold of Sophie’s hand gently squeezes it and asks in a reassuring tone. “What’s her cousins name do you know?” 

 

Sophie once again shakes her head but looks at Dormer. “Not sure, Amy maybe. She goes to lots of music gigs and sometimes she would sneak Kate in. I don’t think her parents knew.”

 

Dormer has her attention now and Allan lets her go with it. “Do you remember where or what rave it was?” Dormer asks gently.

 

Sophie thinks for a minute “it was one of those illegal raves in a field somewhere. It was over the August bank holiday.”

 

Once more Dormer has Sophie’s eye and softly asks. “You cannot think of anyone who she would call H?”

 

Sophie looks away and shakes her head. “No I always asked her but she never told me. All I know is he was older and her parents wouldn’t approve.”

 

“Okay thanks Sophie. You have been really helpful.”  Allan adds, this is something he can work with. “Just one more thing.  Kate’s father said you tidied her room after she died.” Sophie nods. “Can I ask why?”

 

Sophie’s eyes fill with tears for a moment and Dormer once more gently squeezes her hand. “I knew everyone had been traipsing through there and her clothes and things were out and I thought”  she bites her lip “I thought I wouldn’t want people seeing all my stuff like that. I didn’t take anything.”

 

“That’s okay Sophie.”  Dormer says and gently smiles.  “You have been so helpful.”

 

“Is that it?”  Sophie asks through her tears.

 

Allan nods “yes we may have more questions but for now yes.  You have been very helpful.” Sophie smiles then as Allan stands to go and get Jackie.  

 

Dormer and Allan walk back to the car, Fischer smoking inhaling the nicotine as if it is a oxygen.  “Thank you for your help in there you really got her to open up.” Allan says and Dormer smiles widely he chuckles to himself, he has never known someone to be so happy at having a compliment from him.  

 

“I am glad I could help.”  Dormer says but Allan can tell she is holding back.

 

“What is it Dormer?”  Allan asks as they reach the car.  The street is empty, no people and the houses are quiet.  Most people at work and the children are all at school. It is eery really, this whole town seems to be existing in shifts.

 

“Do you think she is telling us the truth?”  Dormer asks looking at Allan as he sucks the last of his cigarette before throwing it the ground and treading on it.  She frowns as she thinks that is littering and technically illegal but she probably shouldn’t point that out to her boss as much as she wants to.

 

Fischer does not notice her disapproval and clicks the button on the car key to open it.  “I think she could be hiding something but she has given us enough to look closer into Mr Heath and we can talk to Frank find see if we can speak to this cousin.”

 

Dormer nods and smiles she feels good her instincts are the same as Fischer’s.  She gets into the car with a even wider smile feeling as if she is really helping on this case, she can’t wait to tell her mother all about it when she gets home tonight.  

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos make everything better in this crazy crazy world xxx


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fischer updates the board with all he has found. Mostly everything Sophie told them. The other friends did not know anything new and were not as close to Kate. As he is updating the timeline La Cour comes in rubbing his eyes after spending most of the afternoon sifting through surveillance tapes. 
> 
> “Hey, anything interesting?” La Cour asks as he walks over to Allan, standing close next to him he reads what Allan has added. “We know when she met H now? That’s good.”
> 
> “Sophie Pemberton was very helpful.” Allan is trying to ignore the easy proximity that La Cour allows himself. “Thank you for that and also suggesting Dormer come she was brilliant. Just don’t tell her that, I cannot deal with the smiling.”
> 
> La Cour laughs as he has seen Dormer beam when given any kind of praise, he finds it adorable, as does he suspect Fischer. “I looked through the tapes, might have something.”
> 
> Allan turns to look at La Cour “show me.” He says and La Cour grins.

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Fischer updates the board with all he has found.  Mostly everything Sophie told them. The other friends did not know anything new and were not as close to Kate.  As he is updating the timeline La Cour comes in rubbing his eyes after spending most of the afternoon sifting through surveillance tapes.  

 

“Hey, anything interesting?”  La Cour asks as he walks over to Allan, standing close next to him he reads what Allan has added.  “We know when she met H now? That’s good.”

 

“Sophie Pemberton was very helpful.”  Allan is trying to ignore the easy proximity that La Cour allows himself.  “Thank you for that and also suggesting Dormer come she was brilliant. Just don’t tell her that, I cannot deal with the smiling.”

 

La Cour laughs as he has seen Dormer beam when given any kind of praise, he finds it adorable, as does he suspect Fischer. “I looked through the tapes, might have something.”

 

Allan turns to look at La Cour “show me.”  He says and La Cour grins.

 

They make their way to the small vcr room the station has set up for this kind of thing, nice and dark so no screen glare.  There is only one chair so La Cour sits and Allan stands just behind him. 

 

“I was looking at the traffic cameras of the local area they just put in a new one at the junction before the the coastal path.  I found this at 5.15pm.” La Cour says and plays the tape, a silver ford goes through the camera it looks as if there is just one man driving, no passengers, but it’s hard to tell who it is.  “Then this at 5.43pm” the same car goes through again. “The same for the previous week but there is a schoolgirl in the car with him on the way back. The camera has only been there a month but they are there every week between 5.00pm and 6.00pm, various days.  Same car same two people, except for the day of the murder when he is alone both times.”

 

“This could be him, that could be Kate.  He could be alone on the day of the murder because he killed her.”  Allan says as he leans in over La Cour’s shoulder almost unconsciously.

 

“You know who that car belongs to?”  La Cour asks.

 

Allan turns his face to look at La Cour so they are only inches apart. “Who?”  

 

La Cour smiles. “None other than our Mr Heath.”

 

“Gotcha.”  Allan says and quickly turns to leave he opens the door and shouts for Dormer who appears from nowhere and makes him jump. “Jesus! Dormer are you just waiting around every corner?!”

 

“Always on call Fischer,  what is it?” She says and winks at him which makes him feel a little embarrassed for her as it was clearly unconscious and she is now blushing furiously. 

 

He sighs and carries on ignoring her embarrassment. “Dormer has there been any word on the handwriting analysis?”

 

“No but I can chase them.  Why? Has La Cour found something?”  She says and tries to peer around Fischer.

 

“Yes, maybe we have Heath’s car near the where the body was found on the day of the murder.  I also looked at the last month and he drives to the coastal path and picks up this girl every week on various days.   We can’t confirm if it’s Kate.” Fischer says and watches as Dormer takes in this information. “Chase them we need as much evidence as we can get before we question this guy.  At the moment it’s all circumstantial.”

 

“Yes right, am on it.”  She says and practically runs to her desk. 

 

“Dormer!”  Fischer shouts and she stops and spins on her feet.

 

“Yes.”  She says vibrating now.

 

“Good work today with Sophie.”  He knows the moment he said it what her reaction would be which is as he predicted excessive smiling and blushing.  “Handwriting Dormer.” He reminds her and she spins around again and goes to call them.

 

La Cour appears from inside and stands next to Allan “has she imploded from your praise yet?”  

 

Allan smirks and shakes his head and tries not to feel La Cour’s hand on his shoulder. “I am getting her to check the handwriting we need to get as much on this guy as we can before we question him.  I do not want him slipping away.”

 

La Cour nods. “Okay so the Rave that Sophie said she met him at  is there anyway of tracking what that could be?” La Cour says hand still on Allan’s shoulder.

 

“Sophie said that Kate went with her cousin so we need to speak to Frank and Rose see if they can put us in touch with her, maybe she can identify him.”  Allan says and moves away from La Cour so his hand drops from his shoulder.

 

“Okay shall I go round there?”  La Cour asks.

 

“Lets both go.”  Allan says and walks over to Dormer’s desk where she  is still on the phone. “Call me when you get some news.”  Allan says and she nods.

 

***

**Wednesday 6th December**

**Kate Steven’s House, Broom Walk, Scarborough**

 

Allan drives them to the Steven’s house because Allan always drives and La Cour had learnt to not argue this point.  During the drive La Cour can practically hear Fischer thinking about the case. “We will get him Allan.” 

 

Fischer nods “yeah I know.”

 

As they pull into the Steven’s road Allan’s phone rings he passes to to La Cour to answer it.  “Fischer’s phone.” He says as Allan tries to find a place to park. “Hi Dormer yeah we just got here, what did the handwriting people say?”  There is a long pause as Dormer fills La Cour in on the findings. Allan parks the car and then stares intently at La Cour wanting to know what Dormer is saying.  “Okay thanks Dormer, I will let him know.” Allan takes the phone from La Cour.

 

“Dormer.”  He says. “Yes I know La Cour can fill me in, can you chase the laptop as well I realised we should have something by now.”  A pause. “Yes, okay thanks.” He says and hangs up looking expectantly at La Cour. “Well?”

 

La Cour rolls his eyes. “Well the handwriting is inconclusive it looks as if whoever wrote the letters made an effort to disguise their handwriting but there are some similarities between the two so it is possible that they were by the same person.”

 

“How possible?”  Allan asks.

 

“Around 60%.” La Cour answers watching Allan’s face, he has that determined look of a hunter on the scene of his prey. 

 

“Is that high?”  Allan asks hopeful. 

 

“Yes but not conclusive.”  La Cour can see Allan’s frustration.  “It is still high. Come on let’s see if we can track down this cousin and she can identify Heath and then we can bring him in.”

 

Allan nods and they get out of the car, making their way to the Steven’s house Allan has a few drags of a cigarette before they get there.  La Cour shakes his head “you really should quit those.” Allan stops and La Cour turns “what?”

 

“Don’t.”  Allan says and takes another drag and then walks past La Cour.

 

“Don’t what?”  La Cour says jogging to catch up to Allan’s increased strides.

 

“Just focus on the case.”  Allan says and before La Cour can say anything else Allan knocks on the door of the Steven’s house.

 

Frank answers the door and lets them both in.  They refuse tea wanting to get on with this as quickly as possible.  They all stand in the kitchen as Allan is keen to move things on. 

 

“We spoke to Sophie Pemberton.”  Allan says. “She mentioned that Kate used to sometimes spend time with her cousin Amy, specifically the end of August before the school term started they went to a rave together.  Did you know anything about that?”

 

Frank smiles “yes, we knew she was going to rave’s but we also knew they would not do drugs we trusted Amy to take care of her, she is older.  We pretended we didn’t know to make Kate feel as if she was rebelling.”

 

“Where does this cousin live?”  Allan asks.

 

“She is my sisters daughter they are in Leeds.”  That is about an hour and half away from Scarborough if Allan’s memory serves him correct.

 

“Can we speak to her?”  La Cour asks.

 

“Yes, I can get you her mother’s details.  Why?” Franks takes out his phone and finds his sisters contact details and holds them out to Allan who copies them down onto his pad.

 

“We think she may have met this H at that Rave.  It is possible Amy may know who he is.” Allan says. 

 

Frank takes a deep breath “you have an idea though?”

 

“Maybe.”  La Cour says “we just need to speak to Amy.”

 

“Let me call my sister now and see if she will speak to you.”  Frank says and places the call before Allan or La Cour can say anything.

 

“Jane.”  Frank says and Allan smiles. “Is Amy home?”  A pause. “Okay can you speak to the Detective working on Kate’s case he has some questions about that rave Amy and Kate went to in August.” Another pause while she answers.  “I will pass you over his name is Fischer.”

 

Frank passes the phone to Fischer.  After some time Allan finds out that Amy is out now at netball but due back in an hour so if he can get a photo of this suspect to Janet she can show Amy and ring them back.  Fischer calls Dormer who gets a photo of Heath from the school website and sends it to Leeds police so some PC’s can go and show Amy when she gets back and they will call Fischer when they know more.

 

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

  
  


Dormer has an update on Kate’s laptop which has been thoroughly checked and there does not seem to be anything out of the ordinary.   The handwriting experts have sent through the report and Fischer reads it while sighing loudly and constantly checking his phone. 

 

Eventually the phone rings and Amy has confirmed that it was Heath who Kate met that night. She said they had spent some time with him afterwards smoking and talking.  He seemed nice and nothing happened between them as far as she knew that night. Amy had just thought he was a cool teacher who liked the music and was nothing but polite to them.  She had even thought him a little boring but Kate had really liked him. 

 

“We have enough now to bring him in.  The handwriting and letters, the car, this Rave which he never mentioned.”  Allan says and La Cour nods in agreement. “Dormer take Davies and go get him and bring him here.  Just caution him.” 

 

“Yes Fischer.”  She is beaming again even as Davies sighs at actually having to do something especially with the always over enthusiastic Dormer.

 

***

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Heath is brought in and left in the interrogation room.  Fischer misses the room in the mobile office it was small and cramped also he could smoke in there.  The room here is larger, it has one small window, a table with the recording machine and four chairs.  There is no glass for someone to watch through as apparently this station is too old for that. La Cour and Fischer sit next to each other while Heath sits opposite them with his lawyer, an older man with thinning hair who looks harassed.  

 

Fischer presses the record button on the tape and the click fills the room.  Adjusting the microphone Allan begins the interview with standard explanation of date, time and who is in the room and whether Mr Heath understands his rights which he answers with a yes.

 

“Can I ask you when was the first time you met Kate Stevens?”  Allan asks and watches for any sign of stress in Simon Heath. 

 

“Yes.  We met officially when she was placed in my form room and english class at the beginning of the school year.”  Simon answers smoothly.

 

“Officially?” La Cour asks, he can feel Allan bristling slighting beside him and he thinks he has missed this.  “You met her before that though?” 

 

Simon takes a deep breath looks at his lawyer who nods slightly.  “Okay yes we met before at an illegal Rave in August. I did not know she was a student at this school when I met her and she did not tell me at the time.”  

 

“What did she tell you?”  Allan asks, expression neutral.

 

“She was with a friend or a relative I can’t remember, another girl.  We shared some cigarettes outside afterwards and we chatted. I cannot remember exactly what about.  Then I left. The next time I saw her was at school where she recognised me, it took me a while to place her.”  Heath’s voice does not waver.

 

Allan nods and asks “you didn’t remember her?”

 

“Not at first no.” Simons replies as he leans back in his chair.   “When I did I knew it would look bad so I asked her not to mention it  to anyone in case they got wrong idea.”

 

“The wrong idea?”  La Cour asks in a faux innocent tone.

 

“Yes,”  Simon runs a hand through his hair, “after all I had given her cigarettes I thought she was older than she was.  I had been more relaxed around her than I should have.”

 

Allan leans forward as he latches onto those words. “More relaxed?”

 

Heath is still sitting back in the chair his fingers twitch as if he wants to smoke, a feeling Allan also shares. “I may have flirted with her, something I would not have done if I had known her age.”

 

Allan smiles in understanding. “So you asked her to not tell anyone.”

 

Simon nods his head “yes and I realise now that was probably not the best way to handle it.”  A brief look to his lawyer before continuing. “That is what we were talking about the day the Head saw us in the classroom.”

 

“You lied.”  La Cour says leaning back in his chair to mimic Heath’s posture.

 

Heath runs a hand through his hair again and then leans forward resting his elbows on the table. “Yes, I did and I am sorry but I honestly did not think it was relevant to her death.”

 

Allan is trying to ignore how good this feels to be back interrogating with La Cour, how much he has missed this.  “What about the afternoon and evening of her death?”

 

“What about them I have already told you my alibi.”  Heath looks at his lawyer who nods.

 

Allan opens the file in front of him and takes out the pictures of the car from the traffic camera.  He slides it across the table so Simon can look at it. “Is this your car?”

 

Simon looks at it “yes, possibly it looks like it.”

 

Allan points to the timestamp in the corner. “This was taken from the traffic camera on 14th at 5.15pm”  he points to the second picture “and then this was taken at 5.43pm can you explain it?”

 

Simon sighs “no comment.”

 

“Is this you driving?”  Allan ask that feeling of having got him is humming through his body and he can feel the same from La Cour sat next to him.

 

“No comment.”  Heath says as the lawyer looks at the pictures and makes a note of something, a frown on his face.

 

Allan leans forward rests his elbows on the table. “Do you want to change the version of events you laid out?”

 

“No comment.”

 

“Okay let’s try something else.”  Allan takes out the copy of the letters from the file.  “What about these?” He slides them across the table to Mr Heath who looks at them and Allan notices a flicker of something cross his eyes but as soon as it is there it is gone.

 

“What are these?”  The lawyer speaks this time and looks at the copies of the letters.  “You are basing this from the fact that they are signed H. You know that could mean anything?”

 

“These are letters found in Kate’s room along with a diary.”  Allan notices that Mr Heath looks genuinely confused. “Did you know she kept a diary, she mentions this H a few times.”

 

“How would I know she kept a diary?”  Simon says still looking at the letter as if he is trying to make sense of why they are there.

 

“I don’t know,  if you could answer the question.”  Allan says and finally Mr Heath looks up.

 

“No, I did not know she kept a diary and I do not know anything about these letters.”  A moment and a flicker of understanding crosses his face. “Is this why you asked for the handwriting sample?  I think you can see this is not my handwriting.” Mr Heath leans back in his chair a gesture that shows he is trying to remain calm and it makes Fischer lean slightly more forward and he can feel La Cour’s pleased expression without seeing it.

 

“Yes, we had it compared and it was a what was it La Cour?”  Allan asks without looking at Thomas.

 

La Cour leans back in his chair “sixty percent match I believe.  It also seems as if someone was trying to disguise their handwriting.”

 

“How can you possibly know that?”  The lawyer asks.

 

“We had it sent to experts in Leeds and they concluded that it is sixty percent likely that Mr Heath wrote these while attempting to disguise his handwriting.”  La Cour says his tone easy and confident.

 

“I doubt that will stand up in court.”  The lawyer says to Mr Heath.

 

“I did not write those and I do not know anything about them.”  Mr Heath says but Allan can tell he is rattled but perhaps not for the reason that he killed Kate.  Allan has a strange feeling that he pushes aside for now.

 

“So you deny that you had a relationship with Kate Steven’s?”  Allan asks.

 

“Yes of course outside of being her teacher.”  Hr Heath clarifies.

  
  


“Do you actually have hard evidence against my client?  Other than some blurry traffic pictures and some letters he may have written?”  The lawyer asks and Mr Heath smiles which makes Allan’s skin crawl.

 

“You cannot explain these pictures.” La Cour asks pointing to the traffic camera print out.  “You said that is your car. Is that you driving? Who is the girl in the passenger seat? Is that Kate?”

 

Mr Heath looks directly at La Cour then Allan.  “Can I speak to my lawyer a moment alone?” He says.

 

La Cour and Allan look at each other.  “Interview suspended at 4.16pm” Allan says looking at his watch and then turning the recorder off.  “You can have fifteen minutes.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are what keep me going in this dark dark world xx


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How are we doing on that search warrant?” Allan asks closing the door behind him.
> 
>  
> 
> “I put the request in but its late. They probably won’t get to it until tomorrow.” La Cour says. “I got you a tea.”
> 
>  
> 
> Allan frowns “tea?”
> 
>  
> 
> “Yes you should not drink coffee this late in the day.” La Cour says and smiles as Allan takes a sip of the tea and frowns again.
> 
>  
> 
> “I guess we will be keeping Mr Heath overnight then.” Allan puts the tea down on the table and La Cour’s eyes follow the mug.

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Dormer is hanging around outside the door when La Cour and Allan come out of the interview room. She has clearly been pacing.

 

“Dormer what is it?”  Allan asks as she comes to halt just in front of then clutching a bundle of papers.

 

“Well I was thinking about the PO box and the amount of cameras in town and that surely the post office would have security cameras so I did some digging.”  Her voice is rapid fire quick as she runs out of breath getting to the end. Allan nods for her to go on. “Well when I rang the post office and asked about the PO Box they said it belonged to a Miss Smith which seemed like a fake name to me.  So I asked them for the security footage. They sent me footage from October as they had destroyed September they only keep a few months at a time. I was looking through the first week to see if we could see Kate picking up the letters and I found something strange.”

 

“What?”  La Cour asks.

 

“The PO box was not used by Kate, it was Sophie that picked up the letters, Sophie Pemberton.  I checked and she was the one that was paying for the PO box not Kate.” Dormer shows them a picture of Sophie Pemberton going into the Post office.  “I was looking at the letters again and they do not actually mention Kate’s name, they are addressed to ‘beautiful girl’ that could be Sophie not Kate.  What if these were for Sophie not Kate?”

 

“Or she could have been picking them up for Kate?”  Allan says but he knows that does not make sense.

 

“Why open the PO box then?”  Dormer asks.

 

“I think we need to talk to Sophie again.”  La Cour says looking at Allan.

 

“Dormer go bring her and her mother in.”  Allan says and Dormer nods and leaves.

 

“Could Heath have been having a relationship with Sophie?  Maybe that is Sophie in the car?” La Cour can see the frown lines on Allan’s face forming.

 

“It could be.”  Allan does feel as though Sophie is holding back.   “The diary though. Kate says she is the one having a relationship with someone.”

 

“It could be fantasy? A school girl crush and a wild imagination?  Sophie lied to protect herself.” La Cour counters.

 

Allan mulls it over. “He looked surprised to see those letters though, confused as to why we had them.  Maybe he was wondering why Kate had them?” Allan remembers the strange look on Heath’s face when he showed him the letters.

 

La Cour nods in agreement. “Maybe Kate kept them hidden for Sophie? Although it still does not explain the diary which is clearly Kate’s.  Do we have enough for a search warrant of Heath’s place?” La Cour asks trying not to enjoy this feeling of working so well together again, it is as if they have never stopped being partners, he cannot help but smile.

 

Allan notices that La Cour is smiling and he knows why. He is feeling it to, the ease of working together again.  Fischer needs to push that feeling aside and not allow himself to get too attached. “Let’s see what Heath says after he has spoken with his lawyer and then yeah let’s see if we can get a warrant. Sophie must have written back maybe he kept her letters.”  Allan says and checks the time. “We still have ten minutes. I am going to call Patricia and ask her if she has anything back from the lab yet.”

 

Allan calls Patricia who informs him she spoke to her niece who said that Sophie and Kate were always whispering about something, they rarely spoke to anyone else it was as if they had their own club.  They are still waiting on results from the fibre analysis hopefully tomorrow.

 

Once he gets back  La Cour and Allan go back into the interview room to talk to Heath.  Allan turns the tape back on and states they are resuming the interview.

 

“Is that Sophie Pemberton in the car with you Mr Heath?”  Allan asks and for the first time he can see that Mr Heath looks a little worried.

 

“No comment.”  He replies.

 

“Were these letters written to her?  If we search your flat will we find her responses?”  Allan asks and Mr Heath looks at his lawyer who nods again.

 

“Are you going to search it?”  He asks his tone even but the look in his eyes shows a slight worry.

 

Allan nods. “We hope to, we are requesting a warrant.  We are also bringing in Sophie Pemberton again to question.  What do you think she will have to say?” Allan asks as he can see the beginnings of panic on Mr Heath’s face.

 

“I don’t know.”  Heath says and looks at his lawyer again.

 

“Will she say that you and her were having an affair?  That Kate knew about it and was helping to cover it up?  That Kate had a crush on you and so wrote about you in her diary wishing she was Sophie?  Did you know Kate knew?” Allan asks and Mr Heath sighs.

 

“Look okay I was aware that Kate had a crush on me I will admit to that.  I did my best to discourage her, whatever she said in her diary happened between us didn’t.”  Mr Heath leans forward and attempts to sound genuine. Allan is wholly unconvinced.

 

“What about Sophie?”  La Cour asks as he can sense Allan does not believe a word of this and he would have to agree.

 

“I don’t know, I have no relationship with Sophie and as I said before I did not write those letters.”  Mr Heath is sweating now.

 

“When we show this picture to Sophie she will confirm that is not her in the car with you?”  Allan asks, La Cour can hear the sense of smug satisfaction in Allan’s voice and tries not to smile.

 

“No comment.”  Heath withdraws and leans back in the chair.

 

“We saw you with a bike at the school?”  La Cour asks leaning forward slightly. “Do you cycle into school?” 

 

“Yes,”  frustration is starting to colour Heath’s tone and it makes Allan feel even more satisfied, they are close, “most days unless I am running late or the weather is bad then I drive.”  

 

Allan nods in understanding “and on November 14th did you drive or cycle?”  

 

Heath rolls his eyes “I cannot remember but I am sure you can find out from the school cctv.”  

 

“Or perhaps you went home to pick up the car before meeting Sophie”  Allan says and pauses a moment, “or Kate.” 

 

Heath bristles “I did not meet Sophie or Kate.”

 

“So who else has access to your car?”  Allan asks.

 

“No comment.”

 

“So you have no idea who could be driving your car for the last few weeks?  We have footage of this car driving this way with just the driver and then with a girl for the last few weeks before Kate’s death.”  La Cour briefly looks at Allan who smiles. “Did you notice your car missing?” 

 

“No comment.”

 

There is a knock at the door and Dormer pops her head through then nods at Allan.  “Interview suspended at 6.42pm.”

 

Both La Cour and Allan get up and follow Dormer out of the interview room.  “Sophie is here. How do you want to do this?” Dormer says.

 

“Let’s take Mr Heath back to holding, keep Sophie out front until he is moved I do not want her seeing him.”  Allan says and Dormer nods.

 

***

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

Dormer goes in with Allan as Sophie seemed to have a rapport with her. La Cour waits outside with her mother Jackie who allowed Sophie to be questioned without her if Dormer was there.

 

“Thank you for coming in again Sophie.”  Allan says and she smiles.

 

“No problem.”   She looks nervous but then again she is young and this is an unusual situation for anyone to find themselves in.

 

“We just had a few more questions.  Remember that you are not in any trouble okay?  Whatever you tell us can stay between us for now okay?”  Allan says and Sophie seems to relax a bit.

 

“We wanted to ask you about a PO box.  Do you have one?” Allan asks and she looks at Dormer.

 

“It’s okay Sophie just tell us the truth.”  Dormer says.

 

“Yes.”  Sophie responds her voice is quiet.

 

“Why?”  Allan asks.

 

Sophie bites her lower lip before responding “she asked me to.”

 

Allan can feel his heart beating even faster now but tries to remain calm. “Who asked you?”

 

She pauses and looks away before answering in a quiet voice. “Kate.”

 

“Why did Kate ask you to open it?”  Allan tries to catch her eye and she eventually looks at him.

 

“She didn’t want her parents knowing about the letters so I said she could open a PO box, she didn’t know how so I did it for her.”  Sophie’s voice is still quiet.

 

“Why didn’t you tell us about this before?” Allan asks, his voice is soft but firm.

 

“I didn’t want to get in trouble.”  Sophie has tears in her eyes now and is biting her lower lip.   “I used to pick up the letters for her.” 

 

“Why?”  Allan pushes as he feels like she is hiding something.

 

Sophie bites her lip again “I don’t know she just used to ask me to.”

 

“She must have given you a reason.”  Allan’s voice is little louder now he needs her to answer him.

 

Sophie looks up at the ceiling and then back at Allan. “She was too scared maybe I don’t know.”

 

Fischer is starting to think Sophie might be lying but he is not sure about what. “Did you know who the letters were from?” 

 

Sophie shakes her head emphatically. “No she never told me.  I didn’t know who it was.” 

 

Allan leans forward a little. “You two were close though I find it hard to believe she wouldn’t tell her best friend about her boyfriend.” 

 

Sophie’s tears have stopped now and she just looks uncomfortable. “She said she was seeing someone but she never told me who.”

 

“Did you have an idea?”  Allan asks. Sophie looks away and bites her lip again.  ‘It’s okay you can tell us.”

 

“She had a crush on Mr Heath so I wondered if it was him.”  Sophie whispers this and looks down at the table.

 

“Did you ever ask her about it?”  Allan is trying to catch her eye but she is steadfastly looking at the table.

 

“Yes,”  Sophie nods,  “but she never confirmed it was him.”

 

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”  Allan asks as Sophie finally looks up.

 

A pause as a look goes across her face, Fischer is not sure what it means. “I was scared.”  

 

“Why were you scared?”  Allan leans forward. “Its okay we will make sure you are safe.”

 

Sophie once more has tears in her eyes  “I asked him about it after Kate died and he said…”  her voice breaks off and she looks away more tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

 

“What did he say Sophie?”  Dormer says as she takes her hand again gently. “You can trust Fischer and me you know that.”

 

Sophie looks at Dormer and smiles through her tears and nods. “I said I knew about the letters and I asked him if he had hurt Kate.”

 

“What was his response?”  Allan asks leaning back allowing Dormer to comfort Sophie so she feels safe enough to answer.

 

“He...he said that I shouldn’t tell anyone and that if I did no one would believe me.”  Sophie tells this to Dormer who gently smiles encouragingly. “I felt like he might...he might hurt me if I did.”  

 

“Did he threaten you?”  Allan asks thinking this guy is becoming more and more likely as the killer by the second.

 

Sophie gently shakes her head. “No, not explicitly but he made me feel scared.”

 

“Okay thank you Sophie.”  Allan says and stands up. “Dormer can you see Sophie out? Make sure she gets home.”

 

***

 

**Wednesday 6th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan goes to the conference room on the way he passes Tony who is on the phone with someone but Allan pays it little mind.  He opens the door and find La Cour staring at the board.

 

“How are we doing on that search warrant?”  Allan asks closing the door behind him.

 

“I put the request in but its late.  They probably won’t get to it until tomorrow.”  La Cour says. “I got you a tea.”

 

Allan frowns “tea?”

 

“Yes you should not drink coffee this late in the day.”  La Cour says and smiles as Allan takes a sip of the tea and frowns again.

 

“I guess we will be keeping Mr Heath overnight then.”  Allan puts the tea down on the table and La Cour’s eyes follow the mug.

 

“What did Sophie say?”  La Cour asks looking back at Allan.

 

“She said she opened the PO box for Kate and used to pick up the letters for her.  Kate never told her it was Mr Heath but she suspected, after she died Sophie asked Mr Heath about it and he told her no one would believe her and intimidated her so she was too scared to say anything.”  Allan picks up the mug again as La Cour keeps looking at it and takes another sip, it’s actually not that bad.

 

“Looks likes Heath is our man then.”  La Cour says pleased that Allan is drinking the tea.  He will sleep better tonight for it.

 

“Looking likely.”  Allan says as he has to admit the tea is soothing.

 

“Do you want to question him again before tomorrow?”  La Cour asks. ‘Or do we let him sweat for a bit?”

 

“Let’s leave him for the night it’s getting late.”  Allan says and looks at his watch. “Hopefully the search warrant will come through in the morning.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all have a good xmas my lovelies xxx


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allan is waiting outside the hotel, it is early and the sun is still not up yet, It’s cold so he jogs up and down on the spot. He is waiting for La Cour who is going to join him on his morning jog. Allan is trying not to think about all the times they used to go running together when they worked cases. He is also trying not to think about how easily La Cour has slipped back into his life after all this time. He has not seen him for two years and now it is as if they never left each other’s lives. It makes Allan feel comforted and irritated at the same time. He should be used to the way La Cour can make him feel more than one thing at once but he isn’t. La Cour is the only person who makes him feel this conflicted and unsure of himself. He is also beginning to realise his feelings for La Cour may not have changed as much as he hoped they had. 
> 
> Lost in thought he feels a hand on his shoulder so he turns and there is La Cour dressed in his joggers ready to go.
> 
> “Morning.” La Cour says brightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters this week and a day early as am busy tomorrow with family stuff xx

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Travelodge, St Nicholas Cliff, Scarborough**

 

Allan is waiting outside the hotel, it is early and the sun is still not up yet,  It’s cold so he jogs up and down on the spot. He is waiting for La Cour who is going to join him on his morning jog.  Allan is trying not to think about all the times they used to go running together when they worked cases. He is also trying not to think about how easily La Cour has slipped back into his life after all this time.  He has not seen him for two years and now it is as if they never left each other’s lives. It makes Allan feel comforted and irritated at the same time. He should be used to the way La Cour can make him feel more than one thing at once but he isn’t.  La Cour is the only person who makes him feel this conflicted and unsure of himself. He is also beginning to realise his feelings for La Cour may not have changed as much as he hoped they had. 

 

Lost in thought he feels a hand on his shoulder so he turns and there is La Cour dressed in his joggers ready to go.

 

“Morning.”  La Cour says brightly.  “You looked away with the fairies.”

 

Allan smiles “just thinking about the case.”  Allan says and he is thinking about the case. However he is thinking about how close they are to solving it what that means for him and La Cour.  

 

“Come on let’s clear the cobwebs before we nail this guy.”  La Cour says and Allan nods setting off with La Cour following as he does not know the route, today they will not chase each other, tomorrow maybe.

 

Thomas follows Allan through the empty streets of Scarborough down the hill and to the beach then up to a coastal path.  Not the one that Kate was found on but similar. They run up the steep incline until they are above the beach and then it is a flat out path for miles. “I normally run past the headland then turn back.”  Allan says out of breath.

 

“Race you?”  La Cour says going on ahead and Allan laughs picking up his pace.  They run together sometimes La Cour ahead, sometimes Allan. They mostly keep pace until just before the headland and the bench Allan usually rests at to look at the view.  La Cour speeds up then and Allan matches his pace they reach the bench at a tie and Allan laughs.

 

They both sit on the bench, the sun is coming up and the sky is a soft yellow and pink.  “Beautiful spot.” La Cour says.

 

“Yeah.” Allan breathes heavily as he watches the sun light on the waves. 

 

“So if we get Heath today what are you going to do afterwards?”  La Cour asks.

 

Allan shrugs “hopefully go back home.  See my son.” 

 

“That’s good.”  La Cour says as he looks at Allan’s profile in the dawn light he almost looks the same as he did years ago, if it weren't for a few more lines around his eyes La Cour could almost believe he is sitting with Allan as he used to be.

 

“What about you?”  Allan asks he can feel La Cour’s gaze on him but he does not turn his head instead he stares out at the waves at they crash onto the beach below them.  The wind is picking up a little and they can both feel the cold air.

 

“Go back to the same job I suppose.”  Since being here with Allan though he has this feeling that returning to his old life will not be the same somehow.

 

“Are you still with Helena?”  Allan asks.

 

La Cour looks away from Allan and out to sea, he thinks about reminding Allan that they are supposed to be keeping things professional but he doesn’t.  “No, not anymore.” La Cour states. “We split a year ago, I guess I wasn’t the easiest person to live with after everything.”

 

“I’m sorry.”  Allan means it he had hoped they would make it, he knows there is never going to be a chance between himself and Thomas but he had hoped at least one of them could be happy.

 

“What about you? Anyone in your life?”  Thomas asks.

 

Allan laughs “what do you think?”  He gets up. “Come on race you back?”  

 

Before Thomas can answer Allan runs off at a fast pace leaving La Cour momentarily stunned before realising he never answered the question.

 

***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Heath residence, 34 Picton street, Scarborough**

 

The search warrant has come through by the time La Cour and Allan get in so they go straight from the station to Mr Heath’s flat.  The door is opened by the keys which Heath had on him when he was taken into custody. La Cour heads the search with a few of the forensic team.  Fischer smokes outside not wanting to clutter the place up. He trusts La Cour to find something, that instinct of his has never failed.

 

It does not take long before La Cour appears with an evidence bag full of letters.  “We will need to speak to Sophie again.” He says holding them up to Allan.

 

Allan looks at the bag of letters “why?”

 

“The PO box was not for Kate, these are from Sophie, Mr Heath was writing to Sophie not Kate.”  Allan swears under his breath and puts out his cigarette. “Well I suppose we can at least get him on sex with a minor if not Kate’s murder.”  

 

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Back at the station they question Heath again with the letters found in his flat.   Dormer has been sent to get Sophie once more. Allan starts the tape up stating the time, date and everyone who is present including La Cour and Mr Heath’s lawyer.

 

“We searched your flat Mr Heath.” Allan states and puts the letters on the table so Heath can see them.  “How do you explain these?”

 

Heath looks at them and goes pale.  He looks at his lawyer and who nods again like always.  “Sophie.” He breathes out. “She is trying to frame me for Kate’s murder.”

 

Allan smiles as he did not expect him to blame the fourteen year old girl he has been grooming and abusing for his crimes but then again this guy is a low life so what does he expect.  “Why would she do that?”

 

Heath sighs and leans forward clasping his hand together on the table “I will admit to Sophie and I having a relationship, I love her and she loves me.  Obviously because of the age difference it is frowned upon.”

 

“Frowned upon!”  La Cour says his voice is filled with disbelief. “You are her teacher you are suppose to guide her, protect her not take advantage.”

 

“I didn’t kill Kate.  I don’t know how the letters I wrote to Sophie ended up with Kate, I assume Sophie must have planted them and made up some story about me.  What did she say? That I threatened her? She didn’t mention she threatened me?! She said she would make me pay and I guess this is what she meant.”  Heath is beginning to get worried now, he is starting to act like a cornered animal.

 

“I thought you were in love?  What would she have to make you pay for?”  Allan asks feeling his rage at this human garbage grow every second.

 

Heath sighs and leans back in his chair he knows he is done for and so decides to come clean.  He doesn’t want to go down for a murder he did not commit. “Okay I will tell you everything but I need something from you first.”

 

“What?”  Allan asks.

 

“That we do some kind of deal so that if I plead guilty to the charges I get a lesser sentence and protection on the inside.  I know what happens to guys like me on the inside.” Heath is truly desperate now and they all know it. 

 

“Why would we do that we have enough evidence to charge you?”  Allans says.

 

“Because I know who killed Kate and I can prove it I just needs some assurance on paper before I can tell you.”  Heath looks at his lawyer again who nods. 

 

“You think Sophie killed Kate.”  La Cour says and Allan looks at him and then at Heath.  Allan knows as does La Cour in that moment that it’s true, Sophie is the one who killed her.  

 

“I can prove it.” Heath says with conviction. “Just get me something in writing.”  

 

Allan looks at La Cour and they wordlessly agree to go and talk outside. “Interview suspended.”  Allan says and they leave.

 

Allan and La Cour go to the conference room.  “We cannot do this. We cannot make a deal with pedeophile predator.”  Allan says his voice low but angry.

 

“Do we have a choice?”  La Cour says in that infuriating calm manner he has.

 

“Even if Sophie did kill Kate, he is still at least partly responsible, he was sleeping with both of them.  He made them both fight over him.” Allan says disgusted.

 

“I know that Allan but we have no proof right now.”  La Cour points out “we have no DNA nothing.”

 

“La Cour, Sophie is a victim as well.”  Allan reminds him.

 

La Cour signs he knows that Allan is impossible when he is like this. “I know that  but she is also a killer.” 

 

“It’s always black and white for you isn’t it?”  Allan spits back that low angry tone is back and La Cour can feel his own hackles rising.

 

“What do you mean by that?” La Cour says his voice rising. 

 

“You and your need to solve cases no matter the consequences.” Allan turns away from him then and looks out of the window the weather has changed its looks like it might rain. 

 

La Cour looks at Allan’s back, tensed shoulders and an aura that feels like it’s stabbing you. “You think we should let Sophie get away with murder!” He says his voice louder than he wants it to be put he’s pissed now, how is this his fault? 

 

Allan huffs out a breath and turns his head to speak but is not looking at La Cour directly. “No but I do not think we should make a deal with pedophile who influenced her to do it.  We can make a case against Sophie anyway and hopefully she will get the help she needs.”

 

La Cour takes a deep breath trying to calm down he needs to be the rational one here if Allan isn’t. “Maybe,  but this would mean we definitely put this guy away he would plead guilty.” 

 

“Haven’t you destroyed enough lives in your dogged pursuit of the truth?”  Allan is staring out of the window again unable to look at La Cour.

 

“What does that mean?”  La Cour is getting fed up of this.  “I thought we were keeping things professional? This is not the time to bring up the past.”

 

Allan shakes his head and sighs heavily. “That’s the thing though La Cour for you it is the past for me it is still my life.”

 

“That is not true I have suffered too.  I didn’t force you to take on the case you know.” La Cour is angry now it’s not his fault the case has not gone the way Allan thought it would. 

 

Allan turns around to finally look at La Cour his face an angry storm “you fucking idiot.  You know why I took that case. Don’t start pretending you don’t.” Allan walks past La Cour and out the door leaving La Cour stunned once more.  

 

“Where are you going?”  La Cour shouts after him.

 

“To smoke and then talk to Sophie Pemberton.” He shouts over his shoulder.

 

***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan takes Dormer in with him again under the guise of the rapport she has garnered with Sophie but it is also because he needs to concentrate and he cannot do that with La Cour right now.

 

This time Jackie is with her as she has been cautioned and Allan is taping the interview.  Once the usual protocol has been adhered to he looks at Sophie and can see she is nervous. He takes the letters and puts them on the table.

 

“Sophie you need to tell us what happened.”  Allan says his voice still soft. “We know you were in a relationship with Mr Heath.”

 

Jackie turns to her daughter “your form room teacher?”

 

“We know they were seeing each other, he has admitted to it.  He says you were in love.” Allan says and watches as Jackie gets even more shocked she clearly had no idea.

 

Sophie bites her lip and looks down “that’s what he told me.”

 

“He told you he loved you.”  Allan asks.

 

“Yes.” Sophie’s voice is quiet and she is looking down at her hands. 

 

“You were having a relationship with him?  For how long?” Allan asks and watches as Sophie’s mother tries to hold back her tears.

 

Sophie looks at her Mother “I’m sorry Mum I was scared to tell you.”

 

Jackie to her credit manages to keep her cool and gently takes her daughter’s hand “it’s okay, it’s not your fault.  You have to tell the truth now though, you have tell the officers everything.”

 

Sophie nods and looks at Dormer “okay.  It first started last summer term, he was helping me with a project for next year, I wanted to get ahead, you could do extra work so you could be in  the higher sets. We spent a lot of time together and things progressed. Then when term ended he wanted to write to me so I set up the PO box. I used to meet him in a hotel in town.”

 

“You had sex with him?”  Dormer asks and Sophie nods. “Sorry love you need to say it for the tape.”

 

Jackie squeezes her daughters hand as tears begin to fall down her face “yes.”

 

“More than once?”  Allan asks gently.

 

“Yes.”

 

Allan slides the picture from the traffic camera across the table to Sophie.  “Is that you or Kate?”

 

Sophie looks at it “it’s Kate.  I have never been in a car with him.”

 

“Did you know he was also having a relationship with Kate?” Allan asks and Jackie tooks horrified.

 

“You think it was him?”  Jackie asks.

 

“We are not sure Mrs Pemberton we are just trying to establish his relationship with Sophie.”  Allan responds. “Did you know about Kate?”

 

Sophie shakes her head “no, not until after she died and then I figured it out and I asked him about it.  He said no one would believe me and that if I told anyone he would hurt me.”

 

“Is that why you planted the letters in Kate’s room?”  Dormer asks.

 

“Yes.”  Sophie says between sobs.

 

“He is saying you knew and that you are trying to frame him for Kate’s murder that's why you planted the letters.”  Allan says and can see the panic in Sophie’s eyes.

 

“No, no I just wanted you to know he had been sleeping with her and me.  I don’t know if he killed her, I don’t know what happened but I just…. I thought he loved me.”  Sophie is crying now and her mother embraces her and soothes her hair.

 

“Thank you Sophie.  We will take a break now.”  Allan says and suspends the interview.

 

“I want that pedophile charged.”  Jackie says as Allan leaves the room.

 

Allan stops and turns. “He will be Mrs Pemberton.  He will be.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos keep me warm at night xxx


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> La Cour is making himself tea when he sees that Frank Stevens has walked into the station. Immediately he puts the tea down and goes out to see him.
> 
> “Frank?” La Cour says. “What are you doing here?”
> 
> “I heard you charged someone.” He says, he looks pale and shaky.
> 
> “Come on through, it’s not that simple.” La Cour says and ushers him through to one of the relatives rooms in the station. “Do you want tea?”
> 
> “No.” Franks says resolute. “I want to know who killed my daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much drama in this chapter. Much.

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan and Dormer leave the interview room to find La Cour pacing outside.  “Well?” He says.

 

“Sophie says she planted the letters because she thought that Mr Heath may have had something to do with Kate’s death.”  Allan is frustrated and that feeling is reflected back at him on La Cour’s face who has now stopped pacing and is staring at Allan as he speaks.   “She claims she didn’t know they were sleeping together until after Kate’s death and that he threatened to harm her.” Allan feels like something is not right that there is something in Sophie’s voice that makes him feel uneasy but he pushes the thought to the back of his mind to mull upon later.

 

La Cour nods “Frank said Sophie had been to Kate’s room after her murder, she had tidied up she must have planted them then.” 

 

Allan takes that piece of information in with interest and files it away with everything else.  “We still have no proof that Heath did it.” 

 

La Cour has started pacing again and his words are echoing around the hallway.   “No, but we do have him on two counts of underage sex.” 

 

Allan gives Dormer a pained look of frustration before directing his words to La Cour. “Let’s talk to him again.”  Allan says. “Sophie has confirmed that was Kate in the car.” That makes La Cour stop pacing and smile.

 

****

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

The click of the recorder is loud in the room as Allan presses it.  He can feel La Cour staring intently at Heath, he suppresses a smile at being back here interrogating together again.

 

“Okay,”  Allan begins,  “we have spoken to Sophie Pemberton.”  

 

At the mention of her name Simon Heath’s face looks a little pale and Allan thinks of blood in the water and sharks circling.  “What did she say?” Heath asks and his lawyer makes a note of something on his pad of paper.

 

“She confirmed you were having an affair and that you were writing to her.”  Allan lets that information sink in for a moment before continuing. La Cour has barely moved a muscle his gaze permanently on Heath.  “However, she also says she has never been in your car and that you used to meet in town. She identified that it is Kate in your car. She also says when she confronted you about Kate you threatened her.”  

 

Heath bristles at that, his voice defensive. “I never threatened her.”

 

La Cour leans forward slightly, his voice soft. “It’s not looking good for you as we will be charging you for underage sex with both Kate and Sophie, the murder charge is only a matter of time.  Is the reason Kate was not in your car on 14th was because she was already dead?” 

 

Heath looks to his lawyer and sighs “alright fine I will tell you what happened.”

 

“Go ahead.” Allan says with a smile.

 

“We had planned to meet at coastal path as always.”  Heath has leaned back in his chair and Allan would really love to punch him.   “We would meet there once or twice a week, she would walk there from her house and I would pick her up.  We would go back to my house and she would stay until 6.30ish and then I would drive her back to her road, drop her off at the top of her street.  This was the plan on 14th. I drove there to get her and that’s when I saw her.”

 

“Who?”  Allan asks even though he knows the answer.

 

“Sophie.”  Heath says his voice is even and it makes La Cour feel sick.  “She was standing in the car park crying, she was screaming at me because she had realised that Kate and I were together.  She was inconsolable and ranting. I could only understand every other word. I realised something had happened, so I walked up to the bench and that’s when I saw Kate.  She was already dead when I got there. Sophie had killed her and left her there.”

 

“Sophie Pemberton killed her.”  La Cour says that sick feeling increasing.  “You found the body and did nothing?”

 

Heath nods. “By the time I went back down Sophie had run off so I just left.” 

 

Allan really wants to punch him now even if this is true which he is not sure it is, this whole mess is still Heath’s fault.  He played around with both these girls, manipulated and abused them. “It is your word against hers Mr Heath, and you were sleeping with both of them.”  Allan says attempting to keep the vitriol from his voice.

 

Heath sighs as if he is frustrated. “I know, I confronted Sophie about it and she said she was going to blame me.  That it was my fault.” The fact that Heath does not see how any of this is his fault is making Allan angrier by the second.

 

La Cour can feel the anger coming off Fischer in waves.  He tries to ignore it and stay focussed. “When did she say this?” La Cour asks.

 

Heath looks as his lawyer again who nods. “I called her when I got home and she said she was going to make me pay for cheating on her.  That she would tell everyone it was me that killed Kate.”

 

“You expect us to believe this story.”  Allan says aware that this scumbag is probably not above using a young girl as his scapegoat. 

 

“I did not kill Kate Stevens.”  Heath says categorically. “I am not saying anymore.”

 

“You didn’t get bored of Kate and decide to end it?”  Allan pushes his voice now not hiding his hatred quite as well.  La Cour feels oddly happy he likes to see Allan like this. “Maybe she got mad and you tried to quieten her down?”  Allan says.

 

Heath shakes his head and holds Allan’s angry gaze. “No, I did not harm her.”

 

Allan wants to get this guy, he can feel how close he is, how close La Cour and him are to getting this scumbag. “Maybe she found out about Sophie?”  Allan can see a flicker of tension in Heath’s eyes now. “Did she know about Sophie?” 

 

Heath thinks for a moment and then shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

 

La Cour doubts this. “They were friends so it was only a matter of time, teenage girls tell each other everything after all.”  

 

“Look they didn’t know.”  Heath is frustrated now he can sense the hate coming from Fischer and La Cour seems happy to let Allan be as intimidating as he likes.  “I don’t know how Sophie found out, I think maybe she followed Kate that day.” 

 

“Are you sure it wasn’t you that got angry?”  Allan can imagine it. After all if this guy is the type of person to have sex with young girls he could be capable of anything.   “ Maybe Kate found out you were sleeping with her best friend and ended things, maybe you didn’t like that?” 

 

Heath looks at La Cour and then at Allan. “No, look she was dead when I got there and I am not going to say anything else.”

 

Allan and La Cour charge Heath with sex with minors and send him back to his cell. 

 

Once they are finished Fischer finds Dormer at her desk “I need you to get Heath’s phone records for the day of the murder I want to see who he called.”

 

“No problem.”  Dormer wants this guy to go down, she can feel the bloodlust from Fischer and if she is honest she feels the same.

 

La Cour appears behind Allan and smiles at Dormer who briefly smiles back as she starts to call the phone company.

 

“So what do you think?”  La Cour asks and Allan turns to find La Cour stood too close to him so he takes a step back and runs a hand through his hair.

 

“I think I need to see Patricia.”  Allan needs to find out if it is possible that Kate was murdered by a fourteen year old girl.

 

La Cour nods “good idea I will come with you.”

 

“No,”  Allan says firmly he needs a break from La Cour a chance to breathe again for a moment. “You stay here wait for the phone records from Dormer and keep an eye on Heath.”

 

La Cour looks a little crestfallen which Allan tries to ignore as he makes his way out of the station before La Cour can object.

 

***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Coroners Office, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

 

Patricia was glad to see Allan but now she is plain disgusted verging on horrified at the discoveries they have made in the case.

 

“You think it was Mr Heath?”  Patricia asks as she sits at her desk in her office tapping in her information to access her computer and the file for Kate Stevens.

 

“We do not have a viable motive.  Perhaps Kate found out about Sophie and tried to end things and he got angry. I wanted to ask you if there was any weight to the idea that another girl could have done this?”  Allan asks sipping his coffee, glad its not tea.

 

“I hate to say this but actually it is not out of the realm of possibility.  The bruising around her neck could have been done by smaller hands, if it was a stronger, larger person the bruising would be more pronounced.  Her esophagus was also not crushed she suffocated from having her airway restricted for a prolonged amount of time.” Patricia says frowning as she looks at the autopsy pictures.

 

“You have got to be kidding me.”  Allan puts the coffee down on her desk, gets up and walks around to the screen to look at the pictures.  He frowns too as he can see the marks could have been made by smaller hands. “Fuck.”

 

“Regardless you have this creep for sex with minors though right.”  Patricia says as Allan moves away to start pacing up and down her office.

 

“Yes but I find it hard to believe it was Sophie.” Even as Allan says this he knows he has felt something off from the start, Dormer did too.

 

“Clearly you have not had much to do with teenage girls, they can be vicious.”  Patricia says. “Let me call the lab in Leeds and see if they have anything on those fibres.”  She picks up the phone and calls the lab asking in a very demanding voice for results.

 

***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

La Cour is making himself tea when he sees that Frank Stevens has walked into the station.  Immediately he puts the tea down and goes out to see him.

 

“Frank?” La Cour says.  “What are you doing here?”

 

“I heard you charged someone.”  He says, he looks pale and shaky.

 

“Come on through, it’s not that simple.”  La Cour says and ushers him through to one of the relatives rooms in the station.  “Do you want tea?”

 

“No.”  Franks says resolute.  “I want to know who killed my daughter.”

 

La Cour frowns “please sit down and I can explain what we have so far.”

 

Frank thinks about objecting but then decides actually he does need to sit so he does.  La Cour sits close by. “We have not charged anyone with her murder yet, we hope to soon.  We have charged Mr Heath however.”

 

“With what?”  Franks says as he looks even paler.

 

“He was the H in the letters however it is more complicated than we thought.  Kate was not the only student he was seeing. The letters they were for someone else.  He had admitted to the relationship but he denies killing Kate, he is implicating the other student.”  La Cour watches as Frank begins to put everything together.

 

“Sophie, he is blaming Sophie.”  Frank’s voice is cold.

 

“Yes but we are still investigating.  Can I ask who told you we had charged someone?” La Cour asks wondering.

 

“A friend.”  Frank says and La Cour knows there is no point in asking any further.  “Can I see him? Is he here?”

 

“Mr Heath?”  La Cour asks.

 

“Yes.  Is he here?”  Frank asks again.

 

“He is here but why do you want to see him?”  La Cour asks even though he knows he would want to.

 

“I want to ask him.  Maybe he will tell me.  Please I need to see his face, look him in the eye and see if he killed her.”  Frank is stern faced and determined and something in La Cour cracks even though he knows he shouldn’t be doing this.

“Two minutes.”  La Cour says.

 

“Thank you.”  Frank says and stands up.  

 

La Cour leads Frank back to the holding cells, he grabs the keys from the desk Sergeant and opens the door to the corridor of holding cells.  The keys and door clank loudly and Frank does not say a word. Before they reach Heath’s cell La Cour stops and turns to Frank “you sure about this?”

 

Frank nods and La Cour opens the door to Mr Heath’s cell.  He is led down on the blue mattress staring up at the ceiling.  When they enter his eyes dart to Frank but he does not react.

 

“Who is this?”  Mr Heath asks.

 

La Cour grimaces before saying “Kate’s father.”

 

Heath stiffens and then gets to his feet.  “I did not kill your daughter Mr Stevens. Please believe me.”

 

“You slept with her.”  His voice is a flat monotone.

 

“I cared deeply for her, I would never hurt her.”

 

“You think her best friend would?”

 

“Sophie is not what she seems.”  Heath says.

 

Frank is reaching into his pocket and La Cour realises what is happening so he launches towards Frank and tries to get the gun from him.  They struggle and Frank is screaming, Heath runs past them and calls for help. La Cour just manages to get Frank turned around and almost on the ground when Dormer appears in the cell just as a loud bang is heard.  She slumps to the ground instantly. La Cour screams for help and manages to get Frank to the ground finally wrestling the gun away he kicks it far down the hall. He leaves the cell banging the door shut he runs to Dormer who is bleeding out on the floor.  He places his hands on the wound but blood is pouring through his fingers. “CALL AN AMBULANCE NOW!” La Cour screams at the gathering officers, one of them runs to the phone and does as asked.

 

“I...I told..I’m sorry.”  She splutters as she goes pale.

 

“Dormer don’t speak, hang on, help is coming, hold on Dormer, please.”

  
  
  


***

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry stay with me okay xxx


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He knew something was wrong the moment he stepped foot in the Station. The whole atmosphere had changed. The air was thick with silence, everyone huddled together comforting each other. He had been told what had happened by the one of the officers, he could feel the rage growing in him as he heard the words. La Cour had gone with Dormer in ambulance which was meant Allan had some to collect himself before he saw La Cour again.

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

He knew something was wrong the moment he stepped foot in the Station.  The whole atmosphere had changed. The air was thick with silence, everyone huddled together comforting each other.  He had been told what had happened by the one of the officers, he could feel the rage growing in him as he heard the words.  La Cour had gone with Dormer in the ambulance which meant Allan had some to collect himself before he saw La Cour again.

 

He goes back to the cells and there is nothing to see except the copious amounts of blood and medical detritus from the paramedics left in the hallway  He looks in on Frank who is not saying a word. He is sat stoned faced and pale staring at the wall, he still has blood splatters on his shirt. Allan charges him with attempted murder of Simon Heath and for shooting Dormer.  It pains him to do so, Allan does not react to any of it. Heath has been put back in a cell faraway from Frank. With a heavy heart and an eye on his phone in case they call about Dormer Allan starts the paperwork on everything and then makes his way to the hospital.

  
  


***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough General Hospital, Accident and Emergency, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

  


Allan finds La Cour sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room.   His clothes are still covered in Hayley Dormer’s blood. He looks pale and exhausted.  Allan takes a deep breath before going over and sitting next to him. La Cour does not look up but he knows Allan is there.

 

“I’m sorry.”  La Cour says, his voice is flat and sounds like an echo.

 

Allan looks at La Cour’s profile as he stares at the ground his face pale with some splatters of blood, his shirt still mostly red. “You should go get cleaned up.”  Allan says his voice is not soft but he is managing to keep most of the anger he feels as a gentle undercurrent. “Dormer’s mother is on her way. I don’t want her seeing you like this.”  He tries not to think about Johnny, he tries not to think about how they have ended up here again.

 

La Cour’s mind is on a delay and Allan can see his words making their way into La Cour’s head slowly.  Eventually La Cour turns and looks at Allan but he doesn’t speak. Allan sighs. “Get a cab and go back to the hotel.  Get cleaned up. I will call you when there is news.” Allan says this as an order which is the only thing La Cour seemingly will respond to.  After a pause La Cour nods and stands up.

 

La Cour takes a few steps towards the door he stops then turns to Allan “I didn’t know.  I didn’t know he was going to..” La Cour’s voice trails off and Allan can see the tears beginning to form in his eyes.

 

Allan looks at him. They can both feel the weight of their shared history and despair.  It makes Fischer want to shake La Cour to make him feel, to make him realise, to cause him to change.  Words have left Allan completely, he is bereft at this point to find any logical reason to do anything but fill this moment with silence.  La Cour looks as if he might say something but when faced with the stoney cold glare of Allan’s eyes he realises it’s pointless so he turns and leaves.

 

After La Cour has left Allan goes to the desk of the hospital and asks about Dormer.  She is in surgery and they don’t know when she will be out, it will likely be several hours.  Allan sighs and resigns himself to hospital coffee and going out for cigarettes in the rain. He tries not to think of Dormer’s eager face, her need to please, her potential and intelligence.  If she dies he is not sure he could ever forgive La Cour and that knowledge leaves him with a dread like a cavern in his heart.

 

***

Several hours go by.  It all feels like a blur the only indication of time passing is the fact that Allan has almost run out of cigarettes. He is now contemplating the likelihood of a hospital selling any.  Dormer’s mother has joined Allan in the waiting room and is drinking tea as if it is an all curing elixir and giving Allan pained looks every few minutes. They both stare at the corridor they took Dormer down, waiting for those doors to swing open and someone to say it was all a joke after all.  Her mother looks like her daughter, same eyes and nose, it makes Allan feel hollow when he looks at her. He has no words to give her, he has nothing but pain to give her. If he could take Dormer’s place he would.

 

Eventually the surgeon appears he looks as exhausted as Allan feels as he takes his surgical cap off his balding head.

 

“She’s stable.”  The surgeon says before Allan can even form a question.

 

Allan breathes for what feels like the first time since he saw that blood soaked prison cell.

 

“Will she be alright?”  Her mother asks and Allan can feel the weight of the question hanging heavy in the air.

 

“We don’t know, she lost a lot of blood and the surgery was long.  It is a wait and see game at this point.” The surgeon’s voice is kind, the practiced kind that all Doctors have.

 

“Can I see her?” Her Mother’s voice is cracked with worry and it makes Allan feel like he might fall down a chasm.

 

“Only for a moment she is still unconscious, there are a lot of machines and wires in the room so be prepared for that.”  The surgeon motions for a nurse to show Dormer’s mother through.

 

Allan holds out his hand for the surgeon to shake “thank you so much.”

 

The surgeon looks at Allan’s hand and shakes it briefly, muttering something under his breath and Allan can feel that chasm again as the man walks away.

 

***

 

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Travelodge, St Nicholas Cliff, Scarborough**

 

La Cour has showered and thrown his ruined clothes in an evidence bag in case they are needed.  He is sitting on the end of his bed wearing sweatpants and a t shirt staring at his phone. Nothing.   It has been hours and there has been no news. He is contemplating calling Allan or the hospital but he is not sure he can face it.  He feels numb and he keeps seeing Dormer crumple to floor like a ragdoll over and over again in his mind. There is a knock at the door and it makes him jump out of his skin.  He stares at the door for a moment before finally his legs work and he goes to the door and opens it. Allan is stood there he looks drained.

 

“Is she…?” La Cour cannot even finish his thought, Allan barges past La Cour and makes his way inside the hotel room.  La Cour stands staring at the hallway before eventually closing the door.

 

“She’s stable.”  Allan says and La Cour visibly unclenches every muscle in his body.

 

“Will she be okay?”  His voice is so quiet Allan can barely hear him.  Allan’s eyes wander to the evidence bag of crumpled bloody clothes and sighs.

 

La Cour is still facing the door so Allan responds to his back. “They don’t know, it’s a wait and see game.  Her mother is there, they are only allowing family.”

 

“Frank?”  La Cour is still talking to the door.

 

“In a cell.  He is being charged.”  Allan stares at La Cour’s back and wills him to turn around.  He doesn’t. “Thomas.” Allan eventually says, that name feels almost foreign on his lips, like an old memory.

 

Eventually La Cour turns around and faces Allan his eyes are red from tears and Allan can feel a small part of him crumble at the sight of them but he steels  himself against it.  He will not be led down this path again. He will not. “We are not doing this again.” Allan says his voice a flat tone which breaks La Cour into many pieces.

 

La Cour frowns the lines on his face look deep, he always looked so young but right now Allan can see the old man he will become wearing all his mistakes and arrogance on his face.  “What do you mean?” La Cour says his voice is soft, the room feels much bigger than it is suddenly, the space between them an ocean.

 

Allan sighs he can feel the anger rising inside him like a wave it makes him itch.  “This. You hurt people La Cour” Allan tries not to notice that La Cour flinches at the change back to his surname “it’s Johnny all over again.”

 

The mention of Johnny causes La Cour to look away, he cannot meet this reproach.  On shaky legs La Cour makes his way to the bed and sits down heavily, he puts his head in hands.  Allan watches him attempting to be unmoved. The silence between them is so thick it feels like the room has filled with molasses.  Eventually La Cour looks up and there are tears in his eyes but they do not spill. “I didn’t see it.”

 

“You never do.”  Allan says his voice is biting and he is starting to feel so many words needing to come out but he has no idea how to say them, how to order them, they burn against the inside of his throat.  “Why did you come here?”

 

“I told you.  I wanted to see you, I wanted to help.”  La Cour feels the inadequacy of these words as they leave his lips.

 

“No La Cour.”  Allan says staring into those eyes that have haunted his dreams these past few nights.   “You came because you wanted absolution, you wanted forgiveness.” Now that Allan has opened this dam there is no stopping.  He will drown in these words, in this room. Another hotel room just like all the other ones, if all those walls could talk they would scream.  “You want it from Johnny and it he cannot give it, you want it from Gaby and she won’t, you hoped out of all them I would because I always do, I always forgive you.”

 

La Cour is staring at Allan as if this is the first time he has ever seen him.  “Why did you take that case? Why did you leave your family? You could have said no.”  La Cour asks he is starting to feel angry at how Fischer is treating him right now, he knows he has made mistakes but Allan must know he never meant to hurt anyone least of all Dormer, least of all Allan.

 

“Fuck sake Thomas!”  Allan spits out and runs a hand through his hair. “You fucking know why!”

 

The swearing from Allan is nothing new but when it is directed at La Cour  he feels attacked even if he deserves it, he does not like it, not from Allan.  “You keep saying that and I don’t. You were my friend Allan I know I made mistakes but we were in it together.”

 

Allan thinks for a moment he tries to clear his rage and order his thoughts.  They feel like a jumbled fog in his head that keeps clearing to reveal three words burning into his mind's eye with a persistence he wishes he could brush away.  “You, you were the reason. I would have done anything for you. Especially after the team broke up, I would have done anything to keep you in my life.” That look again which makes Allan want to shake him. “I love you, you fucking moron.”  Once the words are out Allan finds he laughs, all that tension, all that angst it feels too big to be contained in just those three words. It’s ridiculous.

 

“You love me?  Like love me, love me?”  The genuine incredulousness of La Cour right now can only make Allan laugh more because if he didn’t that rage inside him would boil over and burn both of them.  So instead hysteria bubbles out of him and he can do nothing to stop it. “But...what?” La Cour says still confused.

 

Allan is crying tears of laughter now which are turning rapidly into actual tears of frustration and despair in front of La Cour’s eyes.  So it is through glassy eyes that he watches Thomas get up from the bed and walk towards him. Allan feels the weight and warmth of a hand on the nape of his neck gently pulling him in, then lips as soft as he always knew they would be brush against his.  He hears himself moan and he feels La Cour press in more. Allan realises what is happening and brings his hands up to La Cour’s shoulders and pushes him violently away so he stumbles and falls back on the bed.

 

“Fuck you!”  Allan spits. “What the fuck?!”

 

La Cour smiles and it enrages Allan even more “I guess I wanted to see.”  La Cour says with a ghost of a smile on his face, it makes Allan want to hit him.

 

“You wanted to see what?!  If you felt anything! You just don’t give a shit about anyone other than yourself do you?!” Allan is shaking now his hands are balled into fists. “Leave, fuck off out of here. I mean it, leave.   Go back home, I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to talk to you.”

 

La Cour is trying to stand up, but Allan’s rage is a wall that is collapsing on him and he cannot seem to get his legs to work in time.  He reaches the door just as Allan slams it in his face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those who are still reading! More next week! Comments and kudos are hugely appreciated xxx


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allan goes back to the hospital. He hopes that La Cour has left or is leaving he feels unsure what he would do if he saw him again. All those years of pretending seem like a cruel joke right now. Once again La Cour has bypassed his good judgement and made him feel like a fool. His mind feels like a storm and so he decides the only thing he can do is stay by Dormer’s side. She didn’t deserve to become a victim of La Cour’s poor judgement just like Johnny, just like him.

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough General Hospital, ICU, Scarborough**

 

Allan goes back to the hospital.  He hopes that La Cour has left or is leaving he feels unsure what he would do if he saw him again.  All those years of pretending seem like a cruel joke right now. Once again La Cour has bypassed his good judgement and made him feel like a fool.  His mind feels like a storm and so he decides the only thing he can do is stay by Dormer’s side. She didn’t deserve to become a victim of La Cour’s poor judgement just like Johnny, just like him. 

 

He gets to the hospital and it’s raining again so he pulls his coat tighter around him as he puts his head down and enters the building.  When he gets to the reception he sees Dormer’s mother holding yet another cup of grey looking hospital tea. Her skin is pale and she looks frail.  When she sees him she smiles. “She’s awake.” Those two words are everything to Allan and La Cour’s face dissolves from his mind. “She wants to see you.”

 

“She does?”  Hope feels like a fragile thing right now as he stands here in this starkly lit hall.  

 

Dormer’s mother gently touches his arm and he tries to ignore the sudden swell of emotion that almost brings him to tears at the soft gesture. “Yes, go on in but don’t stay long she needs to rest.”   He nods and heads towards Dormer’s room.

 

Taking a deep breath before he opens the door to find Dorner led there attached to machines which are beeping, there are tubes coming from her arms and her skin is deathly pale.  Her eyes though are bright as is her smile. “Hey.” She says her voice is croaky. He takes a seat next to her and gently covers her hand with his own, she feels cold. He doesn’t know what to say and he can still feel that rising wave of emotion inside about to crest and drown him.  She smiles gently and Allan can feel the tears threatening to spill in his eyes. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault and it wasn’t La Cour’s. Don’t blame him.”

 

Allan feels like he has fallen down an abyss and is never going to come back.  “I am so sorry” he hears himself say the words, they are broken and jagged.

 

“Fischer you need to forgive yourself and La Cour.”  Her eyes are serious now and he can feel her steely gaze.  “Whatever happened in the past this is not that. No one saw the gun, no one guessed Frank would do it.”

 

“La Cour shouldn’t have let him in there and you shouldn’t have been there.”  His anger is burning up through him now.

 

She shakes her head and her eyes briefly close.  “No, you need to let this go Fischer. Near death experiences give you perspective, you have a connection anyone can see that.  It’s rare to find that don’t let it go.” Dormer could see it clear as day from the moment Fischer reacted that way at seeing La Cour on the first day, the way they worked together, two halves of one mind.  You would have to be blind not to see the love between them.

 

Her words hang heavy around him.  “I am not sure I can forgive…” 

 

She laughs and then coughs “you have to.  Please. For me, for yourself, you need to fix it.  Let him in.”

 

Fischer looks at her and wonders how she could have so easily seen what was between him and La Cour, perhaps as much as he does not want to admit it this is out of their control now.  They will always be linked no matter where they are. He watches as Dormer falls asleep, he holds her hand as the tears finally fall from his eyes.

  
  


***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Travelodge, St Nicholas Cliff, Scarborough**

 

La Cour feels like he can’t breathe.  Its as if the walls of his life have just crumbled to reveal something that everyone else could see.  He has realised that kissing Allan felt like an inevitability. As if he has been free falling towards him his whole life and only now he has finally crashed he knows.  He feels like a fool. He also feels a sense of euphoria and completeness that is so alien it feels like a fevered dream. The world has spun slightly, it has tilted not off kilter but back to normal.  As if he has finally found where he is meant to be. Allan has always been where he is supposed to be.

 

As soon as this realisation hits him it is quickly followed by a grief that makes him stripped raw.  Allan wants him gone. La Cour has once again betrayed his trust and ruined everything and this time there is really no coming back.  He has made Allan feel like a fool though he never meant to. The thought of never seeing Allan again is paralysing and La Cour knows if he can just find Allan he knows he can explain.  Then he sees the figure of Dormer crumpled next to him. Allan is right all he does is hurt people and Allan of all people deserves so much better. He sits down on the end of the bed once more and stares down at the carpet.

 

He should leave, Allan is right, he should leave and never come back.

  
  


***

  
  
  
  
  


**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough General Hospital, ICU, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

 

Allan is woken by his phone ringing loudly and a nurse sternly telling him to leave.  He fell asleep next to Dormer his hand still covering hers. He sees that it is the ME and so leaves quickly to answer it outside to answer it.

 

“Patricia.”  he says as he answers the call while lighting a cigarette outside the hospital, he moves to the smoking area after some orderlies give him a dirty look.  “Please tell me you found something?”

 

“I found something but I am not sure you are going to like it.”  Her tone of voice is cautious and Allan can feel his hackles raising.  He needs to nail this guy with everything going on he needs to at least solve this case otherwise he thinks he might lose his mind.  “The fibre analysis came back.”

 

“I am at the hospital I can come by.”  Allan says as he takes a deep much needed drag from his cigarette.

 

“Why are you at the hospital?”  She asks worried as she can hear the tension in Allan’s voice.

 

“I will explain when I see you.”  He says and hangs up.

  
  


**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Coroner’s Office, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

 

Allan smokes four more cigarettes in the short time it takes him to walk over to where the Coroner’s office is.  The nicotine is not helping his calmness as much as he wished it was. He reaches the building and finds Patricia in the reception waiting for him.

 

“What happened?”  She asks at the sight of him, he looks pale and even more exhausted than normal.  “Come on through to my office.” She ushers him through and sits him down on the couch, she makes tea as Allan looks like he needs all the tea in the world.  She moves a chair so she can sit down opposite him handing him a cup of strong, milky tea he looks at it and tears form in his eyes.

 

“What on earth happened?”  Patricia asks dreading the answer especially as neither Dormer or that other Danish officer that Allan was with before is here with him.

 

Allan takes a deep breath and a large sip of the tea “Dormer was shot by Frank Steven’s he was aiming for Heath.”

 

“Is she alright?”  Patricia asks, they all love Dormer round here, she has a reputation for hard work, decency and professionalism.

 

Allan nods “stable for now.”

 

Patricia breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank god.  How did it happen?”

 

Allan breathes out a frustrated sigh “I let my guard down, I left La Cour in charge should have known better.”  He says bitterly.

 

“Where is La Cour?”  She asks sensing there is more to this story. 

 

Allan shrugs “told him to fuck off.”  

 

Patricia eyes him with a look of concern.  “Why? You know whatever happened was an accident!  He would not have let this happen on purpose. I thought you two were friends.”

 

Allan laughs bitterly at that. “Huh we were yeah.”

 

“What else happened?”  Patricia asks softly.

 

Allan looks at her and knows she will not let this drop.  “I made a fool of myself as always.”

 

“Ah.”  She had sensed that there was something more than friendship between them when she first met La Cour.  Allan had seemed more relaxed, more himself but also trying to hide at the same time. “He didn’t feel the same way.”

 

Allan laughs again “he kissed me.”

 

Patricia is confused now.  “So he did feel the same way?”

 

Allan puts his tea down on the small coffee table and leans back on the couch, he closes his eyes and clenches his fists.  “He did it just to see.”

 

“Just to see what?”  Patricia asks as her heart breaks for Allan, she knows how close he and Dormer have become, how much she looks up to him and now unrequited love added to the drama, plus this case.  

 

“I guess to see if he felt anything.”  Allan opens his eyes and leans forward again.  “I didn’t stay to find out.”

 

Patricia sighs “so you told him how you felt, he kissed you and you left.”

 

Put like that it sounds ridiculous and Allan groans. “Yeah.”

 

“You need to talk to him Allan you cannot leave it like this.”  She says this gently as he looks like he might break into a million pieces.

 

“I know, fuck, why did I tell him?!”  Allan groans. 

 

“Because Allan sometimes you cannot keep a secret any longer.  I take it you have felt like this for a long time.” It would go someway to explain the cloud of melancholy that seems to follow Allan around.

 

“Yeah, pretty much as long as I have known him.”  His voice is quiet and she wants to hug him instead she leans forward and touches his knee.

 

“He had no idea?”  She says softly.

 

“He says he didn’t but I don’t know.  He must have had some idea, after everything we have been through.”  The anger is bubbling up again as he thinks about all the times he caught La Cour’s eye, how much time they spent together, all that Allan did for him.  How could he not know?

 

“Maybe he just didn’t know what to do with it?”  Patricia knows relationships can be tricky especially if you work together.

 

“Maybe.  I don’t know, I can’t think about this now.”  Allan smiles and Patricia removes her hand from his knee.  “So tell me what you found.”

 

Patricia thinks about pushing but decides that Allan and La Cour probably need a breather from each right now so she can at least distract Allan with the case.

 

“Okay so we got the results back.”  She says as Allan picks up his tea and drinks it. “At first they thought it was cross contamination but now it looks as if there are extra fibres from another pupils school blazer.” 

 

Allan hears this and he all those feelings he got that something wasn’t right slot into place and he feels sick.  “Go on.”

 

Patricia can see many things falling into place in Allan’s head. “We also found a hair that wasn’t hers, it belonged to another female.  Someone not related to her.”

 

“Do you have the report?”  Allan says his voice is distant he knows who he needs to talk to next.

 

“Yes.”  She gets up goes to her desk and grabs the file giving it to Allan who downs his tea puts the mug on the table and takes the report.  

 

He stands up quickly, his game face on now, no traces of the stress Patricia saw just now.  It is as if a switch has been flicked. “If I get you a sample for comparison can you rush it through for me?”

 

Patricia nods as he heads for the door. “I will do my best.  You have an idea of what happened don’t you?”

 

Allan opens the door and turns to her before he leaves “I really hope I’m wrong.”

 

***

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are always adored xx


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I am so sorry I never meant to-” Allan cuts him off with a wave of his hand.
> 
> “You are not the person I blame in this.” His voice is bitter and Frank grimaces. “You should never have been allowed in there in the first place.”
> 
> Frank shakes his head “please don’t blame La Cour I asked him, I begged him he had no idea what I had planned.”
> 
> “We will deal with all that later.” Allan sits down next to Frank. “I am sorry, you should not be in this situation. La Cour screwed up.”
> 
> “Please Fischer don’t blame him.” Frank pleads. “Enough people have been hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art by [@LeWendigogo](https://twitter.com/LeWendigogo)

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan goes back to the station he called ahead and asked for them to keep Sophie Pemberton so he can speak to her again.  First he needs to speak to Frank and find out how he knew they have charged someone. It will not be long until the press gets hold of the fact that a young officer has been injured at the station by the father of a murder victim.  He checks on Heath making sure he is still in his cell, he can wait. One of the other other Officers opens Frank’s cell and Allan steps in. Frank is sat on the bed he looks pale and his hands are shaking. He looks up when Allan comes in “is she?”

 

Allan closes the cell door and shakes his head “she is stable, she woke up a while ago I think she is going to be alright.”

 

Frank breathes a sigh of relief “thank god!  I am so sorry I never meant to-” Allan cuts him off with a wave of his hand.

 

“You are not the person I blame in this.”  His voice is bitter and Frank grimaces. “You should never have been allowed in there in the first place.”

 

Frank shakes his head “please don’t blame La Cour I asked him, I begged him he had no idea what I had planned.”

 

“We will deal with all that later.”  Allan sits down next to Frank. “I am sorry, you should not be in this situation.  La Cour screwed up.”

 

“Please Fischer don’t blame him.”  Frank pleads. “Enough people have been hurt.”

 

“I wanted to ask you how you knew?”  Allan changes the subject. “Who told you we had charged someone?”

 

Frank begins to cry and Fischer gently put his hand over Frank’s, he looks at Allan tears welling in his eyes “Dormer, she always comes by….she rang and told me.”  Allan nods, of course she would. “None of it is her fault though.”

 

“It’s okay Frank, it’s okay.” Allan stays with him as Frank continues to sob on his shoulder.

 

***

  
  
  
  


**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Allan asks for Sophie and her mother, Jackie,  to be brought into the interview room for questioning.  He misses Dormer and her ease with Sophie but he has to get to the bottom of this.  They sit at the table and Allan presses record on the machine and states the date, time and who is present.

 

“How is Hayley?”  Jackie asks. They had heard the shot and been there during the commotion before being ushered into the family room.

 

Allan looks at her and smiles. “Stable for the moment.  She is awake.”

 

She breathes a sigh of relief. “Good.”

 

Allan then fixes Sophie with his gaze. “I need to talk to you about what happened on the day Kate died.”  Allan says, his voice soft but firm.

 

Sophie meets his eyes full on, her voice a monotone. “I already told you what happened.”

 

Allan takes another deep breath and does not break his gaze. “We have found some things Sophie,” he says and tries to gauge some kind of reaction from her, “some evidence.”

 

Her mother leans over slightly “what evidence?”

 

Allan still does not look at Jackie but keeps his gaze fixed on Sophie. “We would like to take some DNA from you Sophie so we can compare it to what we have found.”

 

Jackie leans even closer to Allan.  “Just because you found DNA that is Sophie’s  that doesn’t mean anything? You need to be focussing on Mr Heath.”  Her mother says.

 

Allan does look at her mother now and sighs. “We are Mrs Pemberton I can assure you we are.  However it is not clear that he killed Kate,” he looks back at Sophie who is now staring intently at the wall behind Allan.  “someone else could have been involved.”

 

Sophie’s mother’s voice is starting to verge on shrill. “You think that person is my Sophie!”

 

Allan keeps his voice level, he wants to sounds reasonable. “If we get a sample we can rule her out if you need to get a lawyer you are well within your rights to do so.”

 

“You cannot be serious!”  Allan can easily hear the panic in Jackie’s voice now, she is looking at Sophie and grabbing her hand but Sophie’s eyes are not leaving the spot they are fixated on.  “You cannot think Sophie would have anything to do with Kate’s death she is a victim here too!”

 

“I agree Mrs Pemberton but we need to establish what happened.”  Allan looks at Sophie. “You need to tell me what happened Sophie so we can sort this out.”

 

Mrs Pemberton looks at her daughter and there is silence but Allan sees something flicker over Sophie’s face that sends a chill down his spine and he knows then that she did it.  Before he can say anything else Mrs Pemberton interrupts. “We need a lawyer we are not saying or doing another thing until we do.”

 

“Interview suspended.”  Allan says and leaves the room

  


***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

Everything is on hold as they have no grounds to hold Sophie yet so Allan lets them go but tells them he will be in touch.  Frank is charged and it hurts Allan to do it he hopes whatever happens the sentence will be lenient. Heath is also charged with two charges of sex with a minor and grooming.  Once all the paperwork has been finished and put through Allan realises that he has not heard from La Cour since telling him to leave. He calls the hospital and checks in on Dormer who is still stable.    

 

As he puts the phone down it rings again it is Patricia the medical examiner. “Patricia what is it?”  Allan says as he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.

 

“Hello to you too.”  She says taken aback by his tone.

 

“Sorry it’s been a long day.”  Allan says he feels bad, he moves so he is stood by the window, it’s an overcast day the clouds threatening to rain.   “I could do with some good news.”

 

“Well I have managed to get some prints from the body, from the neck it took some serious finegaling with the science but I know a few tricks.”  Patricia sounds proud and Allan smiles as he looks out at the grey clouds.

 

“That’s brilliant!”  Finally some good news.  “If I bring some evidence over can you compare them?  I don’t have the fibres yet but I do have fingerprints to compare.”

 

“Yes of course I shall be waiting.”  Patricia hangs up.

 

Allan goes to the evidence room and picks up the bunch of letters which La Cour found at Mr Heath’s flat from Sophie.  They should have both Sophie and Mr Heath’s prints on them he dashes out of the station and makes his way to the medical examiner’s office.

 

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Coroners Office, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

 

He makes it there in record time, he chain smoked the whole way there and is finishing his last smoke when he gets out of the car.  Rain has just started to fall so he quickly makes his way inside where Patricia is indeed waiting for him.

 

“Hey.”  He says and hands her the letters. “There should be at least two sets of prints on these.  Sophie Pemberton and Simon Heath.”

 

Patricia looks at him “you look like crap Fischer.”

 

Allan laughs “thanks.”

 

“How is Dormer?”  Patricia says her voice soft as she gently touches his arm.

 

“Same.”  Allan says relief flooding his voice.

 

“Good.”  Patricia always liked Dormer she was always polite and efficient, two qualities rare with anyone these days.  “Have you spoken to La Cour?” She asks looking behind Allan.

Hearing his name makes Allan feel a hot rage at the back of his neck.

 

“Not yet.” He says through slightly gritted teeth.

 

Patricia frowns,”promise me you will?”

 

Allan runs a hand through his hair “yeah I just need to get those prints tested.”

 

“Okay, you can wait in my office there is a couch maybe try to get some rest or there is some coffee.  Help yourself.” She squeezes his arm and then leaves to compare the prints. Allan makes his way somewhat in a daze to Patricia’s office where he immediately lies down on the couch and closes his eyes.  The first thing he sees is La Cour’s face and he can still feel his lips against his, the way his body reacted before he pushed him away. Allan opens his eyes and gets his phone and stares at it. He should ring La Cour and update him on the case but he just cannot face it right now.  He will wait until the prints come back.

 

He puts his phone away again and closes his eyes.  

 

The next thing he knows Patricia is back clutching papers her face pale.  “The prints on the body were Sophie’s.” She says as she closes the door behind her.  Allan sighs and gets up and from the couch.

 

“Fuck.”  

 

“Yeah.” Patricia agrees she does not envy Allan this case it has been nothing but heartbreak from the start.  “I’m sorry.”

 

Allan shrugs “at least we know.  I can get a warrant for her school blazer now.”

 

“Find La Cour don’t do this on your own.”  He doesn’t even have Dormer now and he looks tired, too tired.  

 

Allan closes his eyes briefly and sighs “it’s fine I don’t need him.”

 

“You need someone.”  She says softly.

 

“Thank you for this.”  Allan says and takes the paper from Patricia who frowns at him.  “I’ll keep you updated.” With that he leaves taking his phone so out so he can start the process of bringing Sophie Pemberton in and getting a warrant for the blazer.

 

***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough General Hospital, ICU, Woodlands Drive, Scarborough**

 

La Cour enters Dormer’s room and carefully closes the door behind him, her eyes flicker open as he turns to face her.  He smiles but there are tears in both their eyes. Dormer holds her hand out and he makes his way to the chair by her bed and takes her hand “I am so sorry Dormer.”  Tears are now definitely threatening to fall from his eyes.

 

She shakes her head “it’s not your fault.”  Her voice is small and soft and it make La Cour ache he cannot look at her, she squeezes his hand. “Please, it is not your fault.”

 

La Cour looks at her and manages to smile “thank you for saying that but it was my fault and I am sorry, so sorry.”

 

Dormer smiles through her tears and they sit there in silence for a few moments.  “Have you spoken to Allan?”

 

La Cour grimaces “a while ago.”

 

“He will come round, he just needs some time.”  Dormer says she knows Allan’s temper but it burns bright and the fast he will calm down she is sure of it.  “I don’t know what happened in the past between you but it is obvious you have a connection. That is rare in life don’t lose it.  Especially not over me, I could never forgive myself.”

 

La Cour smiles at her disbelieving at how selfless she can be lying here in pain, having almost died and she is comforting him.  “Dormer please just concentrate on getting better.”

 

She grasp his hand again and squeezes “before you came he was under a cloud, you could just feel his sadness wrapped around him.”  When she first met Fischer she had felt it like a wall and had been trying to get through it ever since. It was only when La Cour had come she saw his smile reach his eyes.  “You came and it lightened, I could see it, the way you two are together, you make him better.”

 

La Cour looks up at the ceiling and bites his lip to stop himself from losing it completely.  “Oh Hayley I wish that were true, all I do is bring pain to him, to you, to everyone I need to fix it and I have no idea how.

 

“Look at me.”  Hayley says and he does. “You do make him better, you do, you both make each other better.  Whatever happened is in the past, you can talk to him, he will listen, you just have to give him a chance.”  La Cour shakes his head. “Trust me, he wants to hear you. Also try custard creams, he does not like bourbons I learned it the hard the way.”

 

La Cour laughs and squeezes her hand “thank you.”

 

“Promise me you will talk to him, please.”  She fixes him with her best ‘I am in hospital so you have to do what I say look’ to which he is powerless.

 

La Cour nods “promise.  Get some rest.” He says and squeezes her hand.

  


***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**Scarborough Police Station, Northway, Scarborough**

 

They get the the warrant and the blazer is sent to the lab.  He charges Sophie who is not saying a word but her stone cold glare says everything Allan needs to know.  The whole thing is a mess and he is dreading having to phone Ingrid and tell her. Allan feels exhausted and knows he can avoid it no longer he needs to go back and update La Cour on the case at least.  He goes back to the hotel and knocks on La Cour’s room door there is no answer and Allan starts to feel a pit open in the bottom of his stomach. Allan grabs his phone and calls La Cour.

 

***

**Thursday 7th December 2006**

**West Pier Coastal Path,  Scarborough**

 

La Cour sits on the bench it’s late and the sun is setting, there is drizzle in the air making everything damp.  He can feel his phone ringing in his coat pocket but he does not answer it he keeps his gaze fixed out to sea as the sun makes its murky descent through the clouds. He is not sure how long he sits there his phone ringing in his pocket until finally it stops.

 

“You are here.”  That voice he would know that voice anywhere.  La Cour closes his eyes against yet more tears as he feels Allan sit next to him.  They do not looks at each other as La Cour opens his eyes to let the tears flow.

 

“I’m sorry.”  La Cour’s voice is quiet and it feels like a knife to Allan who takes a deep breath before responding.

 

“I know.”  Allan says the words to the sea, the waves crash on the beach below them and he sighs.

 

“I know it’s not enough.  I know that.” La Cour turns now and looks at Allan’s profile.  “Nothing I say will be enough, for any of it, Johnny, Dormer, all of it.  I know that now.”

 

Allan can feel La Cour’s gaze on him and it makes his heart feel like it’s cracking, he does not turn to look at him.  “These last few days they have felt like old times. I could feel myself slipping back as if nothing had happened. It was so easy to let you in.”  La Cour does not speak he listens, he listens to every word as if each one is a rare gift. “It was wonderful, despite the circumstances, it was wonderful to have you back, to have us back.  But it was a dream, a fantasy.” Allan turns and finally looks at La Cour as tears stream down his face, Allan smiles and reaches a hand out, brushing the tears away with his fingers. La Cour smiles at the touch which is gone as soon as it is given.  “We cannot go back, I cannot go back.”

 

La Cour sighs as Allan turns away once again.  “I know and I don’t want you to. I know what I have to do.”  He has to leave, he has to find forgiveness from everyone else and then hopefully he can find it from Allan, when he is the only one left.  “Will you wait for me?” La Cour asks this to Allan’s profile and feels a lifetime pass as he watches a slow smile grow on Allan’s face before he turns to look at La Cour.

 

“You know I will.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! A part 2 is in the works don’t worry this is not the end!

**Author's Note:**

> More next week!


End file.
